


The Last Thing That You'll Hear

by SonofHades



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Amputation, Character Death, Gore, M/M, Male Slash, Psychological Trauma, Urban Legends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 01:52:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 31,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8426029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonofHades/pseuds/SonofHades
Summary: It was supposed to be just a normal summer camp. Nico was getting to spend time with his boyfriend and friends before a lot of them left for different universities and he was left to finish of his last year of high school. When they find a book, all that goes out the window and Nico and his friends are only concerned with surviving the night. It was just supposed to be a joke. Now they've damned not only themselves, but the rest of the camp as well.





	1. Chapter 1

Why was he here again? Nico was meant for indoors. He was a gamer, played card games, and collected comic books. He was not meant for summer camps. This was where his friends belonged. Well, it was their fault that he was there. For a lot of his friends, it was their last few months at home before they would go off to college. Nico would still have several friends that would still be there, but it was more about a particular blond with glasses that was going to be leaving at the end of the summer.

“Nico, you cannot sit in the backseat all day,” Nico's father, Hades, said after he opened the car door.

Nico frowned as he watched Persephone, his stepmother, dropped his and his two sisters' luggage on the sidewalk. She smiled and adjusted her sunglasses, turning back to look at Nico. “Come on, Nico, don't you want to enjoy your summer with your sisters and friends?”

“I'm allergic,” Nico mumbled.

Hazel climbed over him to get out of the car. “To what?”

With a dull look, Nico climbed out after her. Glaring when Bianca came around the car to ruffle his hair. “To the sun,” he grumbled.

His family was a bit complicated. Bianca was the oldest and Hazel the youngest, which left him as the practically invisible middle child. That was not the complicated part. Bianca and Nico had been born to Hades' first wife, Maria. Then, when Nico was ten, they found out that their father had an affair with a woman during a business trip to Louisiana a few years prior, and that they had a younger sister. Their mother had taken them and left. They did not see their father for a year after that, until their mother was in an accident and died.

Hazel was living with their father when they came back to live with him, but not her mother. No, her mother had to be locked up in a asylum. Then, when Nico was fourteen, Hades had met Persephone. The two had married last year. And Nico was not stupid, he knew the reason they wanted all the kids out of the house for the summer.

Bianca had graduated along with their friends Luke, Annabeth and Thalia, who was actually responsible for Nico's current relationship, the year before. Bianca was a counselor this year, along with the other two. Thankfully, she was not in charge of Nico's cabin. Unfortunately, however, Luke was.

Nico frowned down at his phone as Persephone dug in her purse to find a camera. Hazel leaned over and arched a brow at him. “He'll be here in two day. You've survived a month without him, I think you can last a few more days.”

The brown-eyed boy let out a sigh and nodded. Jason, Annabeth, and Reyna would be arriving late to camp. Jason and Reyna were presidents of the student council, which was what Annabeth ran when she was a senior. Both were looking at the same school Annabeth were attending, so she was giving them an academic tour. That was after Jason's father and stepmother had flown Jason and Thalia with them to the Bahamas for a few weeks. Meaning that Nico had not seen his boyfriend since right after Jason's graduation.

After taking their picture, Persephone smiled. “And don't be afraid to go to my mother if you guys need anything.”

Nico liked Persephone, he really did. It was just that the woman tried too hard to be liked by the kids. Still did not make Nico want to gag any less with the knowledge that Hades and Persephone were going to be trying to have a baby while the kids were gone. Nico was the hardest to get out of the house. His sisters had to finally intervene on their parents' behalf and remind Nico that he would get an entire month with Jason before the blond was leaving for college. After being away from Jason for a month had made the dilemma pretty easy for Nico.

“There you all are!” Came Demeter's voice. The woman grabbed Persephone by the shoulders and pulled her daughter in for a hug. “How are you, dear?”

“I'm fine, mother. Thank you for keeping any eye on the kids for us.”

Bianca cleared her throat. “Um, I am over eighteen.”

“You're helping keeping an eye on your brother and sister,” Hades informed her. “Keep them out of trouble.”

Nico and Hazel both scoffed. “She gets into more trouble than we do,” Hazel snickered. Bianca elbowed her sister.

Bianca smirked in Nico's direction, who was still looking at his phone. “He means keep Jason from defiling our dear brother.” Hades gave a nod.

“Hey!” Nico looked up with a scowl.

“I had to find out you two were dating by finding him naked in your bed,” Hades stated plainly. “And to think I trusted that boy with sleepovers.”

“To be fair,” Bianca interjected, “at least Jason is a straight A student and someone to bring home to the parents. Unlike Nico's last crush.”

Bianca's cap was snatched off her head by a grinning boy with black hair and sea-green eyes. “I'm so hurt, Bianca,” Percy said, feigning hurt. “I thought we were friends.” He slung an arm around Nico. “But I still have the nicer body.”

“I had to witness your naked body in my home more than Nico's actual boyfriend, Jackson,” Hades said dully.

“At least we weren't having sex,” Nico supplied.

Percy leaned in towards Nico. “Because... I'm not Nico's type.”

Nico shoved the boy off. “Hey! Back when I was crushing on you, you were invested in girls. Then you go and declare you're bi.” Percy just grinned at him. “Do not throw blame at me for any lack of sex between us.”

Hades pinched the bridge of his nose. “I think it is time we left. This is not a conversation I need to hear.” He patted each of his children on the head. Stopping on Hazel to tap her under the chin. “At least Frank respects my child enough not to try anything.”

Once their parents were in the car, Hazel leaned in to her siblings and Percy. “That's because Frank is too afraid of Dad to do anything.”

They left Demeter to go to their cabins. Bianca and Hazel split up with them to head to theirs, while Percy led Nico to their cabin. As it happened, Nico knew everyone in their cabin. Probably Luke's doing. Nico would not put it past the blond to have fixed the lists for the cabins. This also meant that Nico might want to murder some of his friend group by the end of the month. Mainly Leo. Possibly Percy.

Unfortunately, this also meant just how much male nudity that he was going to be exposed to for the rest of the summer. Percy, Luke, and Leo had little shame when it came to their bodies. This list sometimes included Jason, but Nico wouldn't complain about that. He wouldn't have even complained at all last summer.

Percy directed Nico to an empty bunk and Nico deposited his stuff on the bottom bunk. Percy slapped a hand on the top mattress. “This one can be Jason's.” A wicked grin crossed the tan boy's lips. “Well, we will call it his bed. We all know where he will be sleeping for the duration of camp.”

Nico quirked a brow at the other raven haired boy. “Yeah? Well let me guess, your stuff is in Luke's private room?”

Percy pointed his thumb over his shoulder. “I got the bunk next to yours. Luke and I aren't technically dating, since I just finished high school. Gonna talk it over during camp.” His head tilted to the side. “But... I probably will sleep in his room some nights. Don't want to keep the rest of you up. A shame you and Jason don't have the privacy.”

“I hate you,” Nico said, playfully shoving Percy.

Luckily for the cabin counselors, they had their own private room, separate from the campers in the cabin. They did have to share a bathroom with the rest of them, but that was a small price to pay. Nico let out a sigh. Percy had to go and remind Nico about them leaving. Percy and Nico had been childhood friends, even living with Sally and Percy when Maria took Nico and Bianca from Hades. Percy had also been Nico's first crush, but that was ancient history. They were, first and foremost, best friends. One of Nico's best friends. The other being Reyna, who had actually started out as Jason's best friend when the blond had first moved to New York.

The door swung open and in came a sweaty Frank and Leo. The Latino boy held his arms open with a huge grin. “Hey! You found the walking corpse!” The boy's grin only grew when Nico glared at him. “Welcome to the great outdoors.”

Frank just shook his head. “You're one to talk. We practically had to drag you away from your computer.”

Leo narrowed his eyes and pointed at both Nico and Frank. “How are we supposed to complete our D&D campaign out here? Not to mention I have to raid with my guild.”

They all jumped when a small trunk dropped down from the ceiling. They all peered up to see Luke and Grover grinning down at them. “Watch out below,” Grover chuckled.

Luke jumped down first, dusting off his shoulders after hitting the ground. Nico arched a brow at the chest in between all of them. “What is that?” He asked.

Luke kicked the lid open. “Don't know. Grover and I got bored waiting around for the rest of you, so we decided to explore up there. Not sure why we never did.”

“Dude!” Grover said as he dropped down. “The attic is rather creepy.”

“It's just dusty,” Luke mumbled.

Percy bent down and dug in the trunk. He pulled out a mask and held it up to his face, peering up at the rest of the group and tilting his head ever so creepily to the side. “Looks pretty cool to me. Think how much fun we can have scaring the rest of the camp with this stuff.”

Luke grinned and pulled the mask down from Percy's face before capturing the green-eyed boy's lips in a searing kiss. “Okay!” Leo called out. “I have to deal with enough PDA with like Frank and Hazel, not to mention Jason and Nico. Can I not have a safe moment.” The boy grumbled as he crouched down to look through the trunk. “Definitely a lot of weird shit in here.” He pulled out some candles and even a knife. “Kind of cool.”

“Looks like something from a cult,” Nico pointed out, sitting down on his bed.

“Well,” Luke said with a grin, “I guess we owe a thanks to whoever left it all here.” He tilted his head to the side and reached down. From the chest, the blond pulled out a skull. “Do you think this is real?”

“Dude!” Frank whined. “That looks pretty real. Put it back. We should tell Chiron and the other camp directors.”

“No way!” Percy said. He grinned and continued to pilfer through the chest. “Check this out.” Percy pulled out a rather thick book that was covered in dust and looked hundreds of years old. He dropped it on the floor and sat down with it.

Nico peered over the boy's shoulder as Percy began to flip through it. “That's Latin. Last time I checked, you don't know how to read Latin.”

Percy narrowed his eyes and stuck out his tongue. “And how would you know that it is Latin?”

Letting out a sigh, Nico dropped to the floor beside Percy. He knocked the page with the back of his knuckles. “Because, my dear friend, I had to endure enough time watching Jason go over his Latin homework with Reyna.” Nico frowned down at the book. It gave him the creeps. He narrowed his eyes at a spot in the crevice of the pages. Was that blood? “We should put it back.”

Leo picked the book up and pulled it away from Nico. “Refer to Percy's statement from earlier. No way. This thing looks cool.” He flipped through a few pages. “This thing looks ancient. Probably out of the Dark Ages. There are like torture methods in here.” He shut the book with a grin. “Maybe we can get one of them to translate it for us when they get back from California.”

Nico's lips were such a thin line as he stood up. If it were just Luke or Grover, Nico knew there was no way that Jason would get roped into this. Frank would never even ask. Leo was iffy. When it came to his friend, Jason did decline when he knew it sounded like too much trouble. Nico's eyes shifted over to where a certain boy was grinning at him.

Then there was Percy, the only real problem in the equation. Nico knew far too well by now that Percy could rope Jason into just about anything. Those two were far too competitive. Not to mention there was the whole “bro” thing they had going on. When it came down to it, Nico knew the only way to keep Jason out of it was to get to the blond first.

“It's a stupid book,” Nico finally said.

Percy squeezed Nico's shoulder. “I'm going to tell your boyfriend that you called a book stupid.” Nico smacked his hand away. “Come on, Nico, it'll be fun!”

“Hey, guys,” Leo called out from across the room. He was on his bed with the book. “There is one part that is in English. It's like a chapter title, or something.”

Of course the others went over to check it out. Rolling his eyes, Nico let out a huff and went over to Leo's bed. He peered over the boy's shoulder. The words were readable, but they did not make Nico feel any better about the book. The heading was in big bold letters across the top of the page, with a chain with a sickle attached to it.

WARDEN

Underneath it was the only other words that were legible. “Jailer of the Damned and Reaper of Souls,” Percy said with a huge grin on his face. “This is so sick! We could freak out the whole camp with this.”

Luke bumped knuckles with Percy as the boy stood up. “Just what I was thinking. “So, who's in?”

“Totally!” Leo said.

Grover was biting on his thumb nail. Percy arched a brow at him. Grover let out a sigh. “Fine,” he sighed.

Then they turned to Frank. The Asian boy was standing there with wide eyes. “Doesn't this freak you guys out even a little?” Percy, Luke, and Leo shook their heads. “Just... Fine. Whatever.” He narrowed his eyes and pointed at the three of them. “Just don't be mean to Hazel.”

Then it was time for them to turn their gazes on Nico. The boy let out a sigh. “I think this is stupid. We are not ten.” No one was budging. “It's a dumb book.” He frowned at Percy. “I have not seen my boyfriend in a month, and now you want to keep him busy with all the pranks that I know you're going to be pulling.”

“Nico,” Percy said, throwing his arm around the boy's shoulder, “relax. We just need him to translate it, really.” He ruffled Nico's hair. “Besides, we all know your lover boy isn't cut out for this life of crime.”

Frank arched a brow. “Crime? You're doing some pranks on the rest of the camp.”

Percy waved him off. “Details.” When he turned around, he had that kicked seal look that he did so well on his face. “Please, Nico?”

Rolling his eyes, Nico sighed. “Fine, whatever.”

When the dinner bell rang, Luke threw the book in his room and directed the boys toward the dining pavilion. The other campers were all gathered there, waiting to get access to all the food. Luke spotted the rest of their friends and led his cabin towards them. A tall man that Nico was going to assume was the camp director, Chiron, that the others often spoke about.

“Welcome, welcome,” Chiron addressed the camp. “I'd like to welcome all returning campers back, and a very big welcome to all of our new ones. I hope that your month will be an enjoyable one! Please remember that we do have a nurse here, should you need her. You'll find her at the Big House, as we call it.” He pointed behind him, to the big red building. “That is also where you will find the directors. We also have a lounge with some games. It is also where the kitchen is, so feel free to go get snacks or drinks when necessary.” He held up a map of the camp. “Feel free to explore the woods around camp or go swimming in the lake. The hills outside of the woods are where our boundaries are. So try to stay within that. The highway is not far from there, and we do not want any of you to get hit.”

After he was done with his speech, Chiron let the campers get to the food. Their group grabbed at just about everything they saw. There was definitely plenty to go around. Nico did hate standing in line, though. It sucked. He had a personal space bubble, which was constantly invaded as he moved down the table. He had the feeling that this was going to be a common thing. He just wanted to stay out of all physical activities that might have people touching him or even tackling him. At least he had Leo and Grover.

The two of them would be able to keep him company during those times where his other friends would go off and do something physical. Percy would likely spend most of his time in the water, which was fine, but the boy liked contact sports. As did Jason, Reyna, Thalia, and just about every other friend of theirs. Even Frank and Hazel, who were both so polite and sweet, until they got on the field to play.

When they were all seated, Nico found himself between Percy and Hazel. Thalia sat across from him. Thalia was Jason's older sister, though she always passed for the younger sibling. Thalia always said that Jason was pretty short and tiny as a child, but shot up during puberty. He towered over most of their group, with the exception of Percy and Luke. Percy was just barely an inch shorter than Jason, which they stupidly had contests over. Luke was the same height as Jason, just with more definition to his body.

Jason and Thalia's parents had divorced when the two were still pretty young. Zeus was a CEO and constantly running around the world on business, and Beryl was a movie star. Bottom line, they didn't work out. Zeus got Thalia and Beryl got Jason. Thalia got to see her brother on breaks and some holidays. She would often come home and talk about him, but Nico had no real idea who he was. The only pictures she had ever shown them were from when Jason was little.

Then, when Jason was fifteen, his mother had died. She had been drinking, which was common from what Jason said. Zeus was furious that Thalia never said anything, but Jason said she didn't know. Jason had been doing a damn good job at cleaning up around the house whenever he knew Thalia would be visiting.

Thalia took one look at him and said, “Mopey because you don't have my brother to squeeze.” A smirk touched at her lips as she took a drink from her water bottle. “Reyna isn't here and you don't see me moping.”

Zeus had not really been that thrilled when both of his kids came out of the closet. Thalia had been first, taking much satisfaction from their stepmother's horror. Nico and Jason had been playing video games in the living room when she dropped the bomb. While Zeus and Thalia were adamantly discussing the news back and forth, Jason quietly paused the game. Nico watched the blond stand up and out of his mouth came, “I'm gay, too.”

Piper looked up from her food. “Careful, you might make Percy jealous.”

Percy glanced at Nico and slung an arm around him. “I lost him the second he laid eyes on Jason. I have moved on.”

Nico shook his head, rolling his eyes. Maybe it was a little true.

He had just been a freshman at the time. That morning, Bianca was running a little late, which meant that Nico was running late. By the time that he got there before classes started, Thalia had already introduced Jason to the others. Nico saw the blond sitting there and it felt like his heart stopped. Jason was... beyond words. He was tall and hot, with an athletic build. He was dressed nice and had a dazzling smile.

In fact, it took several times hearing it for Nico to actually understand that Jason was Thalia's brother. Because the two dressed nothing alike. Barely looked alike. On top of that, he had quickly become friends with Percy, the notorious troublemaker of the school. But Jason had looked up at him and smiled when Thalia introduced them. He shook Nico's hand and Nico had wanted to fall over right then and there, because there was just no way someone that hot was talking to him. Jason was a jock.

Well, Percy was hot, but they had been friends for years. Percy had not really gotten hot until puberty. Jason went off to join the baseball team with Luke, but for some reason still wanted to talk to Nico. He even got himself elected class president the following year. Something that shocked everyone, including Reyna, who had been president the past two years. Somehow those two turned their rivalry into a friendship.

Nico turned his attention back to Piper. The girl actually dated Jason before Nico. That had been a very painful few months for Nico. When they broke up, the whole school was shocked. Everyone thought they were perfect. Neither of them would ever explain why they broke up, just that Jason had been the one to end it. It turned out that Piper was the first to learn Jason wasn't straight, and that he actually had feelings for someone else.

Nico and Piper didn't always get along, but he considered her a good friend to Jason if she could keep that kind of secret and not get angry with the blond. Because, even right after breaking up, the two continued on like they had never even dated. Just really good friends. Not even Leo knew what had gone on.

“Speaking of Jason,” Percy suddenly said after Nico never actually responded to Piper, “we found a book that we think might be some fun.”

“Wow,” mumbled Thalia. “Percy Jackson having fun with books. I should call Annabeth. She will be so proud.”

Percy glared at his friend. “So funny. No, we found this old book in the cabin.”

“Grover and I found,” Luke corrected Percy.

Rolling his eyes, Percy nodded. “They found. Anyways, the point is that we could have a scare with the rest of the camp. It's a rather creepy book. Better than a ghost story.” He grinned when the girls' heads looked up. “I was thinking we could have Jason translate-”

Thalia snorted. “Jason? My brother? I know you can talk him into things, Percy, but let us not forget that this is my brother we are talking about.” She shook her head. “You have yourself a prank war on your hands, from the sounds of things. I'm all for it, but I doubt Jason would be. Reyna, sure. Annabeth... maybe. Why don't you just mess with it tonight?”

Percy let out a sigh and slumped on the table. Grover rolled his eyes. “Brother doesn't know how to read it. Nobody does. Got it back in the cabin, but I doubt any of you know how to read Latin.” Everyone at the table shook their heads. “Thought not.”

“Could at least try,” Piper suggested with a shrug. “How bad could we mess it up? Not like it's real.” She brushed her hair over her shoulder. “Sounds fun to me.”

“Maybe we should wait,” Hazel reasoned. “Maybe it's how I was raised, but I'm a little superstitious.” She frowned. “What was in the book?”

Frank cleared his throat and dusted food crumbs off his hands. “Some torture methods.” That had a few of the girls putting their food back on their plates. “There was something about a jailer of the damned.”

Piper grinned. “Sounds fun!” She nudged Percy. “That what you are talking about?” Percy gave a nod. “Yeah, we could work with that. Maybe try to dress someone up, have them go around to scare people at camp.”

Thalia cackled, rubbing her palms together. “It will be great. We could scare the shit out of all the younger ones. I need to get a look at this book.”

Nico let out a groan. That book creeped him out. He just wanted to put it back in the box and toss it into the lake. Or burn it. That thing belonged in the dark ages. “Maybe we should just not mess with it entirely,” Nico suggested. Frank nodded eagerly in agreement.

Nobody else at the table seemed to agree.

“Come on, Nico!” Thalia whined. “It'll be fun. You don't have to partake. Just let us have some fun. We won't even include Jason, if you don't want him to. Which he probably won't anyways.” She leaned across the table and took Nico's hands. “This is like a golden opportunity falling in our laps!”

After looking at the rest of the table, Nico let out a sigh. Not like he could stop them. “Fine,” he relented. “Just... leave me out of it.”

Percy clapped him on the shoulder. “You could at least come read it with us.”

Nico snorted. “You mean try to read it? Good luck. I'll come watch, just to make fun of your bad Latin attempts. Maybe I'll video it so that Annabeth, Jason, and Reyna can have a laugh.”

“That's cold,” Luke said before grinning. “I like it. I've never been more proud.”

They all agreed to meet in the woods within an hour. They had to be at campfire by eight, so they couldn't be out there more than an hour. When they met up with the girls, they all disappeared into the woods, Luke leading the way. Luke had been there the longest. He knew the woods like the back of his hand. Could probably navigate it in the dark.

He finally came to a spot and motioned to a downed log. “Here should be fine.” He dropped a duffle bag that he had brought onto the ground and unzipped it. “Book.” He handed Percy the book they had found. “Some candles because why not...” He tossed some long candles at Hazel, Piper, and Frank. “And a flashlight.” He pulled it out, flipped it on, and shined it in his face with a grin. “Let's get started.”

Percy blew out a breath as he flipped through the pages of the old book. “All right.” He crouched down and put the book on the log. “So this thing is just called 'The Warden'.” He snorted as he looked at the others. “Great name, right? Couldn't they come up with anything better?”

Thalia glanced over Percy's shoulder. “Yo, but those images are pretty graphic. I can't believe they actually drew a guy getting his insides ripped out by a chained hook in here.” Her eyebrow shot up as she glanced at the other guys. “Is that like his weapon?” The guys shrugged. “Maybe we should get a chain.”

Percy snapped his fingers. “Great idea. I'll talk to the Stolls.”

Leo cackled. “Go dragging that around camp in the middle of the night.”

Piper just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Can we just get on with it? What are we doing out here exactly?” She glanced at the book's pages. “Do you have a clue what that even says?”

“Then why are we reading it?” Hazel asked.

Grover shrugged. “For some fun. What's the harm in it? We won't be lying when we tell the camp that we read from this 'evil book'. The brunet dug around from his pocket and pulled out a cigarette and lighter. “Ghost stories aren't real.”

So that was how Nico ended up in the middle of the woods with his friends, listening to Percy try to read Latin. “Okay, but why do you have to record it?” Percy suddenly asked, looking up from the book.

Nico slightly waved his phone. “Because you are really bad at reading Latin, and I know our dear friends would hate to have missed this travesty.” Nico rolled his hand. “Please, do continue. I think you were about to call someone's mother a cow.”

Percy rolled his eyes and huffed. “Not like you could do a better job.”

The others snickered as Percy stumbled over his words. The green-eyed boy's would often crease and he would lean in when he was trying to sound out a word. True, Nico didn't know the language any better, but he also knew better than to butcher it.

When Percy finished, the others all stood around and waited. For what, Nico wasn't really sure, but he waited along with them. After five minutes of silence, Percy stood up and dusted off his knees. “Well that was a bust.”

Piper shook her head. “What, were you actually expecting some supernatural thing to show up and kill us, or something?” She arched a brow with a smirk. “Maybe we can make it back in time for campfire.”

Luke shrugged as he began to pack up the candles. “At least we can still have a good scare with the rest of the camp,” he pointed out. The others nodded.

They got back to camp as everyone was sitting down to roast marshmallows. The group sat down on a log and got their own sticks to use. Demeter came up to them with a bag of marshmallows. “Hello, dears. Where have you all been?” She began to pass out the white pieces of fluff. “You sure do have some long faces on you.”

Thalia kicked the bag at Luke's feet. “Just found some stupid old book. Thought we could kick up some scares around camp.”

Demeter's head tilted to the side. “Old book? You mean that old book in Latin?” She tapped a finger to her lips. “I thought we threw that thing out years ago.”

Leo perked up. “You know the book?” He asked.

“Yes, dear,” she replied. “Some boys found it back when I was around your age at the camp.” Nico watched as the woman's face slowly fell and her mouth briefly formed a thin line. “There was also a fire that year. One of the cabins burned down. Those same boys were in it.”

Percy held his skewered marshmallow over the fire. “Sounds like a ghost story to me.”

“Well,” Demeter hesitated, “it was a bit more real than that. The boys were ranting about an old urban legend they read about in the book. I was sweet on one of those boys.” She finished passing out marshmallows to their group and just stood there, fiddling with the bag in her hands. “The day of the fire, those boys started to sound crazy. They said they heard these horrible noises all night, like scraping and chains clattering. The camp nurse had to detain them in the medical facility. They were raving mad about some invisible jail that was beneath the lake and that something had rose from the water to come reap their souls.” Demeter caught the disturbed looks on the kids' faces and she cleared her throat. “They probably found some mushrooms out in the woods.” She pointed a finger at Grover as she began to walk off. “Do not get any ideas, Mr. Underwood.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Grover chuckled as Demeter left. He then clapped his hands together. “So, who feels like exploring the woods?”

Percy rolled his eyes. “Forgetting getting high for once. This just got better. Sounds like an old camp legend. Think how scared campers will be when they find out we uncovered that same book, and that we read from it.” He grinned wickedly. “We should find a chain, since Demeter mentioned it.”

“There was a chain drawn in the book,” Leo pointed out.

After eating his fill of marshmallows, Nico got up and decided to head back to the cabin. “Nico, where are you going?” Percy called when he noticed Nico was gone.

Nico shrugged and turned around to face his friend. “Just gonna call it a night.”

Percy pouted at him. “But we have scare planning to do.”

“I feel that's more you're area of expertise,” Nico chuckled. He waved off the pout that Percy was still giving him. “I want to get some rest, Jason will be here in the morning.” He narrowed his eyes when Percy grinned. “Clear your dirty mind, perv.”

“You're no fun.” Percy swiped his nose with his thumb, still grinning. “Fine, go get your sleep. I'll try to resist the urge to scare your pants off.” The green-eyed boy winked at Nico. “I'll leave getting your pants off to Jason.”

“Ha ha. You're so funny, Percy Jackson.”

Rolling his eyes, Nico headed on to the cabin. His brow eyes glanced up at the lake as he got to the center of all the cabins. The moon was out, illuminating the camp and casting a light onto the water. There was some fog that was rolling in. Perfect for his friends to go crazy with their scaring. The poor campers. As long as they kept him out of it. He really just wanted to spend the next few days with Jason, since he hadn't seen the blond in so long.

Nico stopped and turned around. He was alone, but it was weird. Like he was being watched. Not that he was that comforted. There were plenty of places to hide in the dark. The sides of the cabins were pitch black. Nico rubbed at his arm uneasily and briskly walked the rest of the way to his cabin, shutting the door behind him. Not that it would do much good. The cabin door was just a wooden screen door that didn't even have a lock on it. So comforting, really. Hopefully an axe murderer never showed up at camp.

After doing a quick check out the window, Nico grabbed a towel from his suitcase and headed for the shower. The front of the bathroom was three stalls, while the showers were in the back. The showers weren't that private. Nico was just thankful that they did have a curtain. He really wasn't left with any obvious place to get Jason alone.

Turning on the water, Nico stripped himself of his clothes and sat them on a little bench that was outside the curtains of each shower stall. Nico stuck his head on under the water and let out a sigh. He was not much of an athletic or outdoors person, so he doubted these next few weeks were going to be kind on his body. Nico nearly slipped and fell when his phone went off.

Scrambling to the curtain, Nico stuck his head out and retrieved his phone from his shorts. Jason's smiling face popped up on the screen. Smiling, Nico accepted the call. “Hey,” he said.

“Hey!” Came Jason's voice. Nico's heart skipped a beat. “How's camp?”

“Good. Showering at the moment. The others are still at the bonfire. Just feeling a little off at the moment.”

“Oh?” He could practically hear Jason's smirk. “So... you're naked? And alone? Interesting.”

Nico snorted. “You're a dork. There's like no privacy here.”

“Just have to know how to work the system.”

Nico wasn't that convinced. “Really? And how is that?”

“I just tell Percy that I need some privacy with you, and he'll clear the cabin. Somehow. I wouldn't question it further. He owes me for clearing the cabin last year for him and Annabeth.” Jason snorted. “Well, at the beginning. Somehow, by the end of camp, I had to do it again for him and Luke. I can't keep up with my bro's sex life.”

“I don't think any of us can,” Nico mumbled, resting his chin on the tiled shower wall. “What are you doing? Have a good trip?”

“I did! I wish you could have joined. It was beautiful out here. Not as nice as when your dad let me tag along to Italy, but still pretty nice.” Nico heard something being zipped on Jason's end. “I'm just finishing up my packing. We are getting on a very early flight tomorrow. We'll probably be at camp around lunch time, though. Gotta get through New York traffic and all that. Reyna's sister is picking us up at the airport.”

“Sounds nice.” Nico took in a breath and held it for a few seconds before letting it out. “So, did you decide about the college?”

“Um... I'm still debating. I'd like to go...”

“But?”

Jason chuckled nervously. “You'll be mad, or call me a dork. Or call me stupid. Both Reyna and Annabeth called me stupid. Reyna also said it was predictable, but so did Thalia. Those two seem to share a mind. It's kind of scary, really.”

Nico frowned. “Jason, you're stalling.”

“Right.” Jason let out a sigh. “I don't know. I'd like to go, really, but it's on the other side of the country. On the other side of the country... and away from you. There are some universities in upstate New York that were pretty good. Or something. Most colleges seem to want me.”

“Your GPA would support that statement. Not to mention all of your recommendation letters, clubs, sports, volunteer work, and your father's promise to donate a hefty sum to whatever college you decided to enroll in.”

“There is that.” It sounded like Jason plopped down on a bed. “He said it was the money he didn't get to spend on Thalia's own tuition. Which is weird, because he still supports her when she needs it.” Jason let out a chuckle, ringing music in Nico's ear. “Father really doesn't know how to voice his affection.”

Narrowing his eyes, Nico let out a huff. “Getting off topic a little. You're right, I'm not too happy.” Nico rubbed at his face. “Jason, you can get into any college you want. Annabeth's university is a great choice. I'll be fine for a year. I'll see you on breaks and long weekends.” Nico's brow furrowed when he thought he heard the screen door of the cabin slam shut. “I think the others are back. But, my point is, don't settle for me. I can join you in a year. I have you and Reyna to thank for dragging to me to all your stupid events and making sure my grades were above average.”

“Nico, you're top in your class,” Jason mumbled. “I'd say that's better than average.”

A door opened on Jason's end. “Is that Nico? Have you told him about the school yet?” Came Reyna' s voice.

“Yes,” Jason replied. “He agrees with you. I feel so attacked and ganged up on.” There was a thump. “Ow! Don't abuse me.”

“He's right. Be smart. Go to the school,” Reyna shot back.

Nico let out a chuckle. “Tell her I miss her.”

“Nico says he misses you,” Jason said.

“I miss him, too,” Reyna replied happily.

“And I miss you,” Nico smiled. “A lot.”

“I miss you,” Jason whispered. Reyna made a gagging sound before a door shut on the other end of the phone. “Okay, we are alone again. I'll think about it some more. I've been accepted into tons of schools. Just need to give one an answer within a few weeks.” Jason blew his lips. “Lot to think on. It'll suck, being so far from you.”

“You'll live.” Nico took in a breath. “Hey, I'm gonna finish my shower. I'll see you when you get here.”

“Yeah” Nico could hear the smile on Jason's face. “I can't wait to see you. Have a good night. I'll be dreaming about you.”

Nico chuckled. “Night.” He hung up the phone and put it back on his shorts before closing the curtain again.

As Nico scrubbed his body, he realized he had a scowl on his face. He let out a sigh. Yes, he wanted Jason to be happy and pursue his dreams. He didn't want Jason to ever look back and wonder what could have been, just because of their relationship. Jason was brilliant. He had potential. They would be able to be with each other the following year. It was only a year. They could make it work.

It sucked, Nico wouldn't lie there, but they could make it work. Part of him wanted to be selfish, wanted to ask Jason to stay, but Nico knew that he would end up hating himself if he did. At least they were only a year apart.

Nico nearly jumped out of his skin when a light popped and began to flicker. Cursing under his breath, Nico turned off the water and reached for his towel. After he toweled his hair, Nico wrapped it around his waist and gathered up his things. He padded out of the bathroom and nearly had a heart attack.

Standing in the middle of the room were the rest of his friends, all in dark clothing and wearing creepy masks. Luke had a chain slung over his arm, Percy had a garden shovel in his hand, and Leo was carrying a bag of fake blood under each arm. Why was he friends with these idiots?

“Where did you even get that stuff?” Nico asked in disbelief.

Grover shrugged, chewing on a random piece of celery. Nico wasn't sure where he had got it. “Stolls gave us the blood and the chain. Not sure where they got the chain, though,” Grover replied. He pointed his half-eaten celery at Percy. “And then we stopped by the gardening station and picked up the shovel. Gonna use it to scrape against the cabin windows.”

Nico opened his mouth to retort, but thought better of it and closed his mouth. He shook his head and continued to his bed. He sat down and slipped his boxers on underneath his towel before standing up to slide them onto his hips. Rolling his eyes, Nico dropped the towel and slid to the head of his bed.

“You all have fun with that,” he finally replied. “I'm going to be here, not getting myself in trouble.” He motioned to the group. “You even got Frank to misbehave?”

Frank gave a shy wave. “Don't tell Hazel?”

Nico rolled his eyes with a chuckle, sliding his legs under the covers. “Go. Cause chaos. Just let me rest.”

The group let out a holler as they took their leave. Nico glanced over his shoulder at them and snorted. Aside from Frank, he was the youngest in their group. Leo was older by a few months, but responsibility was not even on the Latino's radar. It was sad that Nico was probably the most mature out of all his guy friends.

\--------------------------------------

It was the first actual day of camp, and Nico already found something else he hated about it. They had to be up at seven for breakfast, and then move on to camp activities by eight. It was summer! They were supposed to be able to sleep in until around noon! They didn't even have coffee. Yet, all his friends seemed perfectly fine and happy. Not Nico, he looked like death. Well, even more than usual.

It was a little after ten, and Nico had already done crafts, climbed the wall, spent time in the garden—he was forced to by Demeter—and participated in a three legged race with Percy. It did not go well. After their crushing defeat, Percy had suggested swimming. Nico had gone along, but he opted for sitting on the edge of the dock, while some of his other friends swam around in the water.

“Luke!” Came a yell so loud that it caused everyone to stop and stare. Clarisse came barging through some of the bushes, charging at the blond when she found him. Luke let out a yelp as he was shoved into the water by Clarisse, who was slightly shorter than the blond, but nobody at camp really wanted to mess with. “I found it was you and your group that was terrorizing my cabin last night. Do you know how much bitching I had to put up with?”

Luke let out a chuckle as he floated in the water, not really caring that Clarisse was fuming and red in the face. “Not my fault they aren't bright enough to know fake blood when they see it.”

Clarisse pounded her fist into her palm. “Do it again and I'll give you a broken nose to go along with that scar of yours.”

Luke just rolled his eyes and Clarisse stormed off. Nico shook his head. Were they really that stupid to go after Clarisse's cabin? Nico had heard stories about her. Percy's first year of camp, she had flushed his head down a toilet. Last year, she had pantsed Leo and managed to knock the Stolls out long enough for her cabin to put makeup on them and get them into dresses. That one had backfired, as the Stolls wore the dresses the rest of the day as a fashion statement.

“I wouldn't worry about her,” Percy said casually. “Chrion has her on probation this year. She steps out of line, she can't come back.”

Nico arched a brow. “Aren't you all putting yourselves at the same risks with this pranking?”

“Only if they can prove it was us,” Leo chuckled.

Nico rolled his eyes as his phone began to vibrate. He smiled when it turned out to be Jason. He accepted the call and put it to his ear, pulling his knees up to his chest. “Hey, baby,” came Jason's voice. “How's camp going?”

“Would be better if you were here,” Nico teased.

“Nice to know I've been missed. You look nice today.”

A faint blush rose to Nico's cheeks. “You're here?”

His head spun around and spotted a familiar blond standing at the beginning of the dock, waving. Nico jumped up and ended the call, shoving the phone in his pocket and running towards Jason. He flung himself at the blond, who caught him with ease. Nico chuckled as he wrapped his legs around the blond and clung on to Jason with dear life. Their lips met and Nico melted into his boyfriend.

When they separated, Jason let Nico down before pecking him on the cheek and then adjusting his glasses. He smiled and lifted a dufflebag from his feet. Arching a brow, Jason fingered the hem of Nico's shirt. “So that's where my shirt went.”

Nico blushed and batted the blond's hand away. “It's too small for you now.”

Jason chuckled and kissed Nico again. “Fair enough. It looks good on you.” He nodded towards the cabin. “Want to help me settle in?”

The two held hands as they walked. Nico took in a deep breath as he leaned against his boyfriend, taking in Jason's scent. He didn't want to let go of the blond. Jason kissed him on the head when they got to the cabin. He smiled down at Nico and opened the door for Nico. Nico rolled his eyes. Leave it to Jason to always be a gentleman.

They stopped short of the entrance when they were inside. It was like a hurricane had blown through the cabin. Mattresses were overturned, clothes were thrown everywhere, and even some of the lights had blown on. Jason nudged the shattered glass with his foot before going over to the only empty bed left, the one above Nico's.

He turned back around with a frown. “Did I miss something?”

Nico let out a sigh. “Gonna have to tell Luke about this. It was probably Clarisse.” The brown-eyed boy shrugged. “Percy and the others are doing some pranks. They found this old book that had an urban legend in it. Apparently, it's an old camp story. Anyways, Clarisse was probably in here looking for the stuff they used to terrorize her cabin last night.” Nico held his hands up in defense when Jason raised an eyebrow at him. “I thought it was stupid. I didn't participate.”

Jason nodded as he looked around the cabin. “Good. You don't need to get on Clarisse's bad side. Not that she has much of a good side, unless you are Silena.” Jason let out a sigh and rubbed his neck. “Let me text Percy. We probably should get the cabin cleaned up.”

Five minutes later, the rest of the cabin came jogging into the camp. “What the fuck?” Luke shouted.

Percy ignored all the chaos and came over to Jason to give the blond a hug. He stuck his tongue out playfully at Nico as he squeezed the blond's ass. Jason chuckled and pulled back. “I hear you all got into some trouble,” Jason pointed out. He motioned around the cabin. “Looks like Clarisse isn't happy with you.”

Leo picked up the iron chain they had used last night from the floor. “Looks like she found our stuff, but she didn't take it.”

Percy frowned. “Strange.” He tapped Luke's shoulder with the back of his knuckles. “Wanna go talk to Clarisse?”

“Not really,” Luke grunted, “but I guess I will.” He headed for the door. “Try to get this cleaned up. We don't need the camp directors seeing this. There's a broom in my room.”

With that, he left. Frank retrieved the broom and began sweeping up the broken glass. The others went about sorting through everything and sorting them to who it belonged to. At least none of their stuff got destroyed.

“So,” Jason finally said, “I hear you guys found some old book?”

Percy grinned. “Yeah. I let Thalia borrow it last night, but you can take a look at it later, if you want.” He scrunched his face. “We couldn't read it, though. It's in Latin.”

Jason gave a chuckle. “I'll take a look at it for you.”

Around thirty minutes later, Luke returned to the cabin as they were finishing up. Nico had just finished stuffing all of his clothes back in his bag. He was just going to stuff it all in there, but Jason made him fold all his clothes. Not that the blond jerk bothered to help. He just sat beside Nico, smiling innocently. If Nico hadn't missed him so much, he would have shoved him off the bed.

“What did Clarisse say?” Frank asked.

Luke let out a grunt, rubbing a hand down his face. “Just wasted ten bucks.”

Nico glanced at Jason in confusion. The blond chuckled and ruffled Nico's hair. “If you want Clarisse to do something or talk, you usually have to pay her,” he clarified. “She's gone up five dollars from last year.”

Luke leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “She was playing games when I found her. More like crushing cabin five. Said she didn't do anything.” Luke rubbed his jaw. “I'd have been more doubtful, if she didn't have Silena as a witness. She didn't do this.”

Leo flailed his arms. “Then how do you explain this?”

“Well,” Percy began, “she didn't take anything, if it was her. That doesn't really make sense. We couldn't find anything missing. Nothing.” He glanced at Luke with a frown. “Why would someone come jack our cabin up like this?”

Plopping down on his mattress, Grover dug around in his pocket until he pulled out a smoke. Frank quickly snatched it from the brunet, who fell off the bed to try and get it back. “Hey, man!” Grover whined. “Do you know how hard I worked to get that?”

“You seem to always have some source of getting high on you,” Frank retorted.

“Not the point,” Grover sighed and laid back on his bed. Placing his hands behind his head, the brunet grinned. “Maybe that thing from the book showed up.”

“You're an idiot,” voiced Nico. Grover just grinned at him.

Jason just shook his head and turned to Percy. “Speaking of, mind if I get a look at that book?”

Unfortunately, Nico got dragged along with Jason and Percy. He didn't really have to go, but Nico just got Jason back and he just wanted to be around the blond. There was another incentive to go along. That incentive being Reyna.

Percy knocked on their friends' cabin and out came a head of blonde hair. Annabeth arched a brow at them and leaned against the door. “Well, well, look what we have here. Miss me, Sea-weed Brain?”

Percy smirked and clasped hand with his ex-girlfriend. Nico would never understand how they managed to stay so cool with each other. All three of them. Luke didn't get irritated with Annabeth, when Percy was with her, and Annabeth didn't seem to care at all when Percy was off with Luke. The only thing that really made sense was that Percy had a things for blondes. Perhaps he should be worried about Percy's bromance with Jason.

He had never really asked Jason why he wasn't interested in Percy, but the blond said that he only saw Percy as a brother. All of their locker room stories aside. Nico had heard plenty about how they got on after gym or sports. If Percy wasn't Nico's best friend, he might have killed him for all the times he pretended to drop the soap in front of Jason and rub his ass against the blond's crotch.

Thankfully, Percy had never really shown any actual interest in Jason, he just liked playing around. Nico would never understand the two of them. Hell, Percy had even gotten to kiss Jason before Nico thanks to a game of truth or dare.

“Always,” Percy grinned. He pulled the blonde in for a hug. “How was the trip?”

“Same old. Thankful to be back here. I don't mind my stepmother, really, but it sometimes feels awkward at home with her and her sons.” The blond motioned into the cabin. “Want to come in?”

The three boys entered and glanced around. The girls all looked up and waved at them as they entered. Reyna jumped down from her bunk and came across the room to steal Nico away from Jason. “Hey,” the blond pouted. Reyna stuck her tongue out at him.

“Thals,” Percy called out.

The door to the cabin counselor's room opened and out came Thalia. She smiled and ran up to Jason, pulling the blond into a hug. Even though she was several years older, Thalia barely even met Nico's height, which meant that her younger brother practically towered over her. She looked like a kid compared to him.

Percy thumped the back of Thalia's head. “Mind if we see that book?” He grinned when Thalia turned to glare at him. “Thought your brother could take a look at it.”

“Oh.” Thalia motioned over her shoulder. “I was letting Annabeth and Reyna look at it.”

“Yeah,” Reyna continued, moving over to her bed and picking up the old book that they had found. She handed it to Jason. “Take a look. Pretty graphic. Some of it is pretty old Latin, too. Some parts Annabeth and I couldn't understand.”

With a nod, Jason opened the book and slowly flipped through the pages. He sat down on Reyna's bed, his eyes scanning across the pages. Reyna sat down beside him and pointed to a few words. Jason shook his head. He couldn't read those parts either. How old was this book?

Eventually, Jason blew his lips and shut the book. He shook his head and knocked on the cover of the book with his knuckles. “Well, a lot of it is discernible, but there are a few parts that I can read.” He handed the book over to Annabeth, who began to read it. “From what I can make out, the book talks about some kind of jail.”

“For what?” Piper asked.

Reyna shrugged. “The book calls them the damned, but that's not much help. The book seems to be written by several people over the years. One called them demons that fell from heaven. One basically describes them as monsters.” She rolled her eyes. “It's just some old supernatural book. Like the old Grimm stories.”

“So,” Hazel voiced from her bed, “where is this jail supposed to be?”

Annabeth pointed to a passage in the book. “This looks like the word for 'plane'. So... not on this plane? Looks like the following passage talks about gateways to enter the prison.” She hummed to herself and arched a brow. “One is supposedly under the lake at our camp. Since this is handwritten, it is entirely likely that the boys that Demeter told you about could have written this to scare people that found the book.”

Jason held his hand out and took the book back from Annabeth. He flipped several pages over. “From what I was also able to make out of this book, some people in the Dark Ages put a curse on the book. It seems to reference something called 'The Warden'.”

“That's what we read about,” Percy replied.

With a nod, Jason looked back down at the book. “Well, that thing is like the jailer of this supernatural prison, according to this book. But at some point in history, some guy put this passage in the book.” The blond pointed to a paragraph. “Says here that there was an incident. People died. Not sure what all happened, can't make it out, but this guy was pretty shaken up about it. He basically cursed the book for whoever used any of the rituals in the book.”

Reyna nodded and pointed below Jason's finger. “Here it says that no matter what ritual you read, you summon your own death. Basically a defensive measure to keep anyone from...” Reyna let out a chuckle, “from letting anything out of the prison. The Warden is supposed to come and kill any within a...” She frowned and pointed to a word. “Can you make this out, Jason?” The blond shook his head. “Annabeth?”

Annabeth took the book with a sigh. After a second, she handed it back and shook her head. “Basically some undetermined distance.”

By this point, Nico was fighting off a groan. His grandmother had been a very superstitious woman, and perhaps some of that had been passed on to Nico. So had his mother. Bianca was a little bit, and one glance at his sister told him that she was thinking the same thing. What if this was real? Maybe they shouldn't have messed with the book.

Percy let out a snort. “That's great.” He flipped through the front of the book. “Does it say who wrote this thing? They're like some undiscovered Lovecraft writer, or something.”

“Doesn't say,” Reyna replied.

Nico fidgeted and sat down next to his boyfriend, looping his arm through the blond's. It was just a story, he kept telling himself. It was just some stupid story meant to scare them. It wasn't real. Right?

\--------------------------------------

By the end of the day, Percy and the others had managed to spread the word of this story throughout the camp. Nico stayed out of it, opting instead to spend his day with Jason. The two laid out on the dock, curled up together and staring up at the sky. Nico sighed into Jason's bare chest from where he laid tucked under the blond's arm. They were supposed to have been at campfire, but they had both wanted some alone time.

Jason rolled on top of Nico and kissed the shorter male. Nico moaned into the blond's mouth. They might have been a tad bit naked, only covered by a blanket. What? Sue him. Nico hadn't seen his boyfriend in a month, and he also missed getting laid. Nico smiled and slid out from under Jason, reaching for his boxers.

A whine escaped from Jason as he wrapped his arms around the raven haired boy's waist. “You don't have to get dressed.”

“But I do,” Nico chuckled. He tossed the blond's underwear at him. “Campfire will end soon, and I don't think it would go well for us if someone found us. Especially our friends. They'd never let us live it down.” He kissed Jason on the nose before standing up.

“Fine, fine.” Jason smiled and grabbed Nico by the hips, slowly kissing his way across Nico's stomach and hips. Nico let out a moan when Jason squeezed his ass. “I guess we'll have to find some more alone time later.”

Nico leaned down and kissed Jason deeply before grabbing the rest of his clothes and putting them on. “Definitely. Perhaps the showers when the others are for sure asleep. Don't need them listening or anything.” He bit on his lip as Jason finally got up, exposing his nude form. God bless Jason for his body.

The two got back to the cabin around fifteen minutes before the others. As soon as Percy entered, he spotted them and grinned. “Well, looks like you two were a little too busy to join us roasting marshmallows.”

Leo grinned as well, nudging Percy. “Probably more exciting than marshmallows.”

Luke smacked both boys on the back of the head as he walked towards his room. “At least they are getting some, Valdez,” he smirked.

“Harsh!” Leo retorted. His face scrunched up as Percy slipped past Luke and entered the counselor's room. “Please keep it down. At least Jason and Nico did their deeds in private.”

“No promises,” Percy called back before Luke shut the door.

Jason plopped down on Nico's bed with a smile, lightly rubbing the brown-eyed boy's back. “So, where's Grover?”

“With Juniper,” Frank replied.

It took all of thirty minutes before Luke and got too loud for Nico to tolerate. He grunted and rolled onto his side. Jason had fallen asleep with his glasses on. Nico sighed and sat up, reaching over to remove the glasses and put them in the window. Nico grabbed his shoes and a flashlight, deciding to go for a walk. Frank was the only other one awake, but he had his headphones on while he read a book. Smart.

Outside was far more quiet. Nico took in a breath and walked through camp. While nobody was out, several cabins still had their lights on. There was a lot of laughter from some of the girls' cabins. Nico flipped on his flashlight as he neared the nature trail that ran through the woods. At most, he would only really have to worry about running across a snake along the path.

Nico sighed as he walked slowly along the path. He was happy for Jason, but Nico definitely had selfish desires coursing through him. If Jason went to California, Nico would see him like once or twice during each semester. Not counting breaks between the semesters. And what if Nico didn't get into the same university? There were other schools in California, but did Nico want to settle just to be close to Jason?

This was the crappy part of falling in love before graduating high school. There was no telling where life was going to take them from here. Nico wanted to be with Jason, and Jason wanted to be with him. But could they manage making this all work to stay together?

A chain rattling jarred Nico out of his thoughts. The boy's brow furrowed as he slowly pointed his flashlight around him. He frowned when he noticed something move off in the woods. Nico crept through the trees, holding his light towards the movement he saw. Someone was walking ahead of him, dragging something along behind it.

“Hello?” Nico called out.

Whoever it was stopped and turned around. Nico's eyes widened as a large figure with a black hood stared back at him. It looked like a foot was tied up in the chain that he was holding. Nico gulped as the person dangled a scythe that was attached to the chain in his hand.

“Luke?” Nico asked, trying to keep his hand steady with the light. No reply. “Percy? Frank?” Could it be any of them? Most of them had been back in the cabin, unless they followed Nico out here. Maybe it was another camper.

Alarms blared in Nico's mind when the person began spinning the scythe above his head. It was flung at his head, barely missing Nico by an inch as he ducked behind a tree. Nico fell to the ground, shaking in fear as the scythe was ripped back to the person wielding it. A faint dark glow briefly emitted from under its hood.

Nico shot to his feet and bolted in the opposite direction when the thing began to spin the scythe to throw again. Nico yelled for help as he ran, ducking and weaving through the trees. He wasn't entirely sure where he was headed, just as long as it was far away from the crazy person with the scythe.

As he ran by a tree, the flashlight smacked against it and fell to the ground. Nico debated turning around to go back and get it, but thought better of it. He kept running. He didn't care how much his lungs burned, Nico wasn't going to stop running until he was back at camp. That was the plan anyways. It ended up being ruined by a root that snagged his foot.

With a yelp, Nico was sent crashing to the ground. He rolled onto his back with a groan. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to see two familiar faces staring down at him in confusion.

Juniper was slipping her shirt over her head before she moved to crouch down beside Nico. “Are you all right?”

Nico groaned again. “What are you two doing out here?”

Juniper blushed and Grover grinned. “Use your imagination, little man,” the brunet replied.

Setting up with a start, Nico began to panic. “We need to go. Something's following me. I think.” He flailed his arms wildly. “There was someone in the woods, and they nearly killed me.”

After sharing a look with each other, the two helped Nico to his feet. “You hit your head, brother?” Grover asked. Nico was still in a state of panic. “Let's go have a look then.”

“Wait, no!” Nico called out, but Grover was already wandering into the woods. Juniper just smiled and followed after him, which Nico with no choice but to go after them.

They wandered around for a long time, but never found anyone. They even went in search of the spot Nico had found the person. It wasn't that easy to find out in the woods, but they eventually did. Grover arched a brow as he ran his fingers across the slashed tree. Maybe that would convince them.

“What if that thing has come to kill us?” Nico whispered.

Juniper tilted her head to the side. “Is he talking about that old book you guys found?”

“Yeah, babe.” Grover shook his head with a smirk as he turned to Nico. “Chill out, dude. I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation for this.”

This was unbelievable. “Like what?” Nico shouted, slightly irritated. “Are you high, or something?”

“Well, yeah...” Grover replied. He shrugged. “I mean, maybe you did see something. But what is there really to worry about? Urban legends aren't real.”

“Unless it's just a normal murderer,” Juniper added.

Grover shined his light on her. “Not helping, babe.” The brunet's brow furrowed. “Now that would actually be freaky. Not any cops anywhere around here.” He scratched his goatee. “I wonder if Chrion or the adults have any guns around camp for that kind of situation.”

There was a pounding in Nico's chest as his heart threatened to explode from his chest. How was this helping? He rapidly tapped his hand against the tree. “This! This is real. Someone threw a scythe on a chain at my head. How is that not bad?” He took in a breath. “This is beyond a prank.”

Grover pondered this over for a moment. Juniper let out a sigh and put a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. “We will just bring this up to Chrion in the morning,” she assured Nico.

It wasn't much, but Nico took it. The three headed back towards the cabin, Nico sticking close to the other two. He kept glancing over his shoulder. Maybe Grover right, maybe it was nothing. Maybe just hearing about that story so much was messing with Nico's mind. But, still, how would anyone explain what he saw in the woods? Even if it was a murderer, it was still a murderer!

Grover took Juniper back to her cabin. Nico took the opportunity to slip away and head towards the Big House. The doors on the side were supposed to belong to the adults. Nico found Chiron's door and knocked loudly on it.

No response.

Taking in a breath, Nico knocked again, a little louder this time. He glanced over his shoulder and began pounding on the door. Still no answer. Maybe Chrion was a heavy sleeper. Nico sighed and put his back to the door. Rubbing his arm, he moved on to Demeter's room.

She answered after the second knock. “Nico? What are you doing awake at this hour?” She asked, yawning a little.

“There's someone in the woods,” Nico quickly replied. “Someone attacked me in the woods. He had this scythe and he threw it at my head.” It took everything he had to not shake uncontrollably. “I don't know who or what it was, but the person attacked me.”

Demeter's face had grown serious as Nico talked. She tied up the sash on her robe and slipped outside. Nico stopped her when she tried to knock on Chiron's door.

“He wouldn't answer.”

Demeter gave a nod. “One of our campers broke her leg earlier tonight after campfire.” She motioned for Nico to follow her. “If Chiron is still here, he's probably in our little medical room.” Demeter opened a door and turned on a light. The medical room was empty. “Perhaps Chrion took her to the hospital. I'm sure he will be back in the morning.” She pursed her lips. “Oh dear. Go back to your cabin, sweetie. Tell Luke. I'll see about getting the other adults and the counselors. We'll go search the woods. You get some sleep.”

Nico gave a nod and quickly headed back to his cabin. He slipped inside and quietly knocked on Luke's door. There was a grumble from the other side, followed by the creak of a bed. Luke opened the door and let out a yawn, standing there in just his boxers.

“What's up, short stuff?”

Nico shifted. “Demeter wants you to come to the Big House?”

Luke frowned. “Why?” He asked slowly.

“Someone... attacked me in the woods,” Nico confessed. Luke's brow furrowed, sleep vanishing from his eyes. “He was using a scythe on a chain.”

Luke slowly nodded. “Maybe someone's taking this prank a little too far.” He stepped back inside and Nico stood in the doorway.

Percy was fast asleep in Luke's bed, his leg sticking off the side and drooling on the pillow. Luke quickly dressed and grabbed a flashlight. He shut the door to his room and then stopped to look down at Nico.

“Get some sleep,” the blond ordered. “I'll wake you up if we find anything.” He pulled a knife out of his pocket and handed it to Nico. “Just in case there is some nut case running around camp.” Nico gave a small nod as he took the knife. “Just be safe.”

Nico stood there awkwardly as Luke left. He stared down at the knife before slipping over to his bed, where Jason was still sleeping peacefully. Nico undressed down to his boxers and slipped under the covers. He put the knife on top of his clothes on the floor before rolling over and curling up next to his boyfriend.

There was no way he was going to sleep tonight.

\-----------------------------------------------------

“Everyone wake up!” Luke shouted.

Nico groaned and rolled over to look at his phone. It was just a little after six. Jason groaned next to him and wrapped his arms around Nico's waist. Nico smiled and ran his fingers through Jason's hair before slipping out of bed.

“Get dressed,” Luke ordered. The boys in the cabin groaned in response. “Demeter is going to address the camp.” He glanced at Nico. “There was a situation last night.”

By the time they got dressed and left, the other cabins were already waiting. There was a heavy fog out this morning, and the sky had barely risen. From the look of Luke, it didn't appear that the blond had gone back to sleep since Nico woke him up.

Demeter quieted everyone down. “If I can have your attention please.” The campers slowly fell silent. “Last night, one of our campers was attacked in the woods. I know that there is this story going around right now, and it's possible that some of you wanted to scare your fellow campers. If this is true, I'd like to offer you the chance to find me and tell me if this is true. If it isn't, then I can only assume there was a dangerous person out in the woods last night.” She took in a breath as she patted her hair. “I will be overseeing the camp until Chrion returns. As you know, Katie broke her leg last night. It seems Chrion and the other directors of the camp took her to the hospital.” She gave a nod. “That is all. Get yourselves something to eat. The woods will be closed off today, for obvious reasons, so please stay clear of them. Stay where a counselor can see you at all times. I will be calling to see about getting a police officer to come out here in the meantime.”

After they got food, they all sat at the table. “This is crazy, right?” Thalia said. “I can't believe someone was attacked.

“I know,” Jason agreed.

Luke glanced up from his food, a stern look on his face as he watched Nico. “It was your boyfriend that was attacked.”

Nico wanted to yell at Luke, but Jason was already turning on him in surprise. “Wait, what? Why didn't you wake me up?” He glanced Nico over. “Are you hurt? What happened?”

Nico let out a sigh. “I'm fine.” Everyone was watching him. Bianca seemed to be in big sister mode, digging in her pocket for her phone. “Please don't call Dad.”

“I can't,” Bianca confessed. She held her phone in the air, shifting it around a few times. “No signal. Strange. I had some last night.”

Others pulled their phones out. Nobody had signal. Jason frowned, but turned back to Nico. “Tell me what happened,” he pleaded.

Nico let out a sigh before delving into the story. “We never found anything out there,” Grover added when Nico was done. “Just a slashed tree, like Nico described.”

Hazel glanced at Luke, Thalia, and Bianca. “You guys weren't told it was Nico that was attacked?”

“I knew,” Luke confessed, “but only because Nico told me when he got back to the cabin.”

Bianca looked angry. She slammed a fist down on the table. “Dammit, Luke, why didn't you tell me last night?”

The blond shrugged. “He didn't get hurt. Besides, we had other concerns last night.” Wait, what? Luke let out a sigh and lowered his voice. “Don't let the other camp know this, Demeter wants to keep it quiet, but Chiron and Katie weren't the only ones missing last night. None of the directors were around. It was just us counselors and Demeter looking last night.” He slowly shook his head. “Demeter says that maybe they went with Chrion, but I don't know.”

“Okay, this is a little freaky,” Piper confessed. Nico had to agree with her.

This was crazy. He just wondered how many of the others were freaked out. Were they just brushing it off? It was just too many coincidences, right? The person in the woods that attacked Nico, the phones, the adults missing... It just couldn't be a coincidence.

Nico's foot was rapidly tapping under the table. “Do any of you have your cars with you?”

“Nope,” Luke confessed. “Rode with Thalia, and her stepmom dropped her off.”

The others were pretty much the same. Jason took notice of Nico's leg and put a hand on it. He gave the raven haired boy a soft smile and squeezed his hand. It did little to calm Nico down. Was he jumping to conclusions? It was crazy, right? Legends weren't real. This stuff wasn't real. It couldn't be. That would be crazy. Right?

Nico found Demeter after breakfast. “Any luck reaching the police?” He asked.

Demeter lightly shook her head. “Phones aren't wanting to work.” She let out a heavy sigh, wringing her hands together. “The camp jeep is gone, so maybe they did take Katie to the hospital. I'm sure they will be back shortly. I just wish they would hurry. I can't leave to go find a cop and just leave you all here, not if some crazy lunatic is out in the woods.”

“We could all leave,” Nico offered.

Demeter smiled and patted the boy on his cheek. “Believe me, we just might. For now, we might be better off here. We just need to make sure nobody goes into the woods.” She patted Nico on the back and ushered the boy on his way. “Go enjoy your day, sweetheart. You shouldn't have to worry about this. We will get to the bottom of things.”

It didn't really matter what Jason did, Nico stuck with him. He didn't participate in the physical activities, just sat off to the side. Jason didn't say anything, though. Why would he? Nico figured that Jason would have made Nico stick near him, even if the brown-eyed boy hadn't done so on his own accord.

It wasn't just Jason. Luke, Percy, Jason, Reyna, and Thalia all made sure that every one of their friends were accounted for. Nobody from their group was allowed to go off on their own. Grover had tried to go off with Juniper, but Percy had snatched his friend by the leg and dragged him back. Juniper just laughed and offered to stay with their group.

Jason sat down next to Nico on the grass after a match of volleyball. He smiled at his boyfriend as Nico handed him some water and a towel. The blond mumbled his thanks and took a sip of the water as he wiped his sweaty torso off. Nico let out a sigh and leaned against the blond, who wrapped his arms around Nico and pulled him down to the grass.

“I love you,” Nico mumbled into Jason's collarbone.

Jason smiled and began stroking his fingers through Nico's hair. “Love you, too.” He leaned back to look at the smaller boy. “Are you sure you're okay?”

“Not really. Just shaken up.”

The blond kissed Nico's head. “We'll be fine. If you really just want to leave, I will go with you.”

“No,” Nico mumbled. “I'll be fine.”

Hours went on, but nobody returned to camp. She wasn't saying anything, but it was clear that Demeter was starting to worry. Nothing else had happened, though. Perhaps that wasn't the best thing. Leo apparently saw Jake and Lacy go into the woods. Apparently, Jake was wanting to scare Lacy and see if he couldn't make something happen. That had been an hour ago.

It didn't seem like they would be the last to go in there. “A few others are going in,” Bianca announced at dinner. She shrugged and rolled her eyes, taking a bite of her food. “If they weren't staying in a group, I'd be more concerned.”

“Is that smart, to let them go in there?” Annabeth asked.

“I mean, can I really stop them? If they want to go, they'll go. Not much anyone can do, unless you want to lock everyone up.”

Annabeth gave a nod. “Fair.”

Nico wasn't eating, he couldn't. His nerves were shot to hell. It was taking everything he had not to take Jason up on that offer to leave, but Nico knew that his friends wouldn't leave. The sun was slowly descending, too. By this point, they might just barely make it to the nearest town before dark. There was no way Nico was leaving camp after dark. Whether it be some crazy murderer or supernatural being, there was no way Nico was going outside of camp after dark.

Another hour went by and everyone was getting ready for campfire. Jake and Lacy still hadn't returned, and now Mitchell, Will, Lou, and Cecil had vanished into the woods. Beckendorf and Silena went out there under Demeter's orders to bring them back. Nico didn't understand why anyone would want to go out there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so, I had to break this thing up into two parts because it was 61 pages long. I could have just made it a giant one-shot, but I felt this would be easier on you guys. Also, as it is so long, there are bound to be plenty of mistakes that I overlooked. Editing something that long is not fun. Anyways, so the thing from the book in this fic is based on a character from a game I sometimes play. Any of you that play will probably recognize that, at least next chapter. The game is League of Legends(don't play if you aren't very thick skinned because players can be assholes), and the character is Thresh. Go look up images of him if you want an idea of the weapon he uses. Also, go look up "Thresh's theme" on Youtube to get some nice music to go along with this experience. Make sure to listen to that while you read the next part.
> 
> Speaking of, I'll probably post the rest of this before I go to bed. I'm trying to accommodate everyone with time zones and schedules. I know that some will be busy with Halloween plans, while people over in like Asia and Australia are already beginning their Halloween. I mean, I don't know how much people celebrate it everywhere else in the world. I've heard it's more just Americans that hype it up so much. But it is my favorite holiday, so I don't understand how people can't love it.
> 
> But I will see you guys in about 8 hours or so with the rest of this fic.


	2. Chapter 2

After campfire, Jason pulled Nico off to the side as everyone was heading to their cabins. He smiled at Nico as he led him across the camp. Nico didn't really feel afraid, not when Jason was holding his hand, but they probably would get in trouble if someone other than their friends caught them. Hell, Bianca would probably bite Jason's head off for taking Nico off to be alone with everything that was going on.

Jason sat them down on a picnic table close to the edge of the woods. The two sat facing each other, Jason lightly fiddling with Nico's hands. “Haven't really had any alone time with you today.”

Nico smiled. “Well, if you're hoping to get me naked, the current situation doesn't exactly get me in the mood,” Nico smirked.

Leaning in, Jason pressed a chaste kiss to Nico's lips. “No. I wouldn't be so reckless to do that, especially not outside, with everything that is going on.” He brushed some of Nico's hair to the side. “If I... go to California, would you be mad at me?”

“No?” Nico arched a brow at him. “Why would I? I mean, yeah it would suck, but you need to do what makes you happy.”

Jason smiled and adjusted his glasses. “You make me happy.” He let out a sigh and leaned back against his palms. “But I do kind of want to go. You'll come join me after you graduate, right?”

“Of course,” Nico chuckled, lightly shoving the blond's shoulder. “Don't think you'll get rid of me so easy.” The boy's smile slowly faltered and then he began chewing on his lip. “I will really miss you, though. A month has sucked, I can't imagine a year.”

The blond frowned and took Nico's hand. “We can make it work. I'll call you every day. We can Skype once or twice a week, and I'll come visit when I can.” Jason brought the brown-eyed boy's hand up to his lips and kissed it. “I'll be home on holidays, and I'll spend breaks here as well. We will probably have separate spring breaks. Maybe you could convince your dad to let you come out to California. Tell him it's to look at the university.”

Nico smirked. “Maybe. If he didn't trust you so much, I doubt he would let that fly.” Playfully sticking his tongue out, the boy winked. “If only he knew what you've done to his son in his own house.”

Chuckling nervously, Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “I'd rather not think of what he would do to me. I thought Bianca was going to kill me that time she caught us.”

Nico chuckled. “Afraid of my sister. That's really cu-”

“What are you two doing out here?” A light was shined on them as Octavian yelled in their direction. Nico rolled his eyes with a groan. “You're supposed to be in your cabin.”

Jumping up from the table, Jason raised his hands in defense. “Sorry, sorry. It was my fault. We'll go there now.”

Narrowing his eyes, Octavian kept his flashlight on the two of them. “You bet you will. I'm going to follow you there to make sure you do.” He sneered at them. “And don't think I won't be informing Demeter about this. I'm sure she will-”

The two blinked and glanced at each other. Octavian had cut himself off and was staring behind them, shining the light into the woods. Every few seconds, a faint glow appeared in the woods, a green ominous light that swayed in the dark and moved slowly across the woods.

“Who's there?” Octavian yelled out. The green light faded away. Nico felt a chill run down his spine when no answer came. “I said, who's there!”

From the darkness came a scythe on a chain. It shot by all of them and then was yanked backwards. As it returned to the woods, it caught Octavian in the neck. The blond gurgled and grabbed the chain as he was pulled to the ground, slowly being pulled into the woods. His flashlight fell to the ground.

“Holy shit!” Jason yelled as he made a wild attempt to grab Octavian.

Nico couldn't move. He slowly reached up and touched his cheek. There was blood. Octavian's blood. Jason grabbed Octavian by the leg, yanking the other blond backwards. He even pushed his feet against a tree to try and stop it. With a sharp tug from the chain, Octavian's head was ripped off his body.

Jason fell backwards and stared at the head in horror as it rolled across the ground. This wasn't real, Nico kept telling himself. It was just a dream. A very horrible bad dream. The green light in the woods appeared again, but this time it was moving towards them.

Scrambling to his feet, Jason grabbed Octavian's flashlight and sprinted towards Nico. The brown-eyed boy was yanked along with the blond as Jason ran towards their cabin. From behind Nico, a blood curdling scream, which sounded eerily like Octavian, rang out like a banshee.

Nico stumbled to keep up with his boyfriend's longer legs. Grabbing the door to their cabin, Jason flung Nico inside and pulled the screen door shut and turned off the light. His eyes were frantic as he turned Nico to face him and looked him over.

“What the fuck is going on, dude?” Percy asked, sitting up in his bed. “You look a little crazy.” His brow furrowed as he caught sight of Nico's face. “Is that blood?” Luke got off Percy's bed to inspect Nico.

Jason did his best to slow his breathing, moving to look out the window. “Octavian is dead.”

“What the fuck?” Leo said.

“His head was ripped off. There was something in the woods, and it was using a scythe on a chain,” Jason replied. “It murdered Octavian.” Jason turned back to look at his friends. “Where's Grover?”

Percy slowly got up from his bed, brow furrowed. “He was walking Juniper back to her cabin.”

Luke shook his head as he wiped the blood off Nico's face with his sleeve. “Is this some kind of joke?” Leo demanded, jumping up from his bed and storming over to the others. “If it is, can you cut it out?”

“It's not a joke,” Jason hissed.

Frank gulped. “Maybe we should go get Demeter. Someone is clearly taking this too far.”

Luke was silent when everyone turned to him. The blond locked his jaw and turned to them. “She's not here.” He let out a sigh when the others started to panic. “She took her car to go to the nearest hospital. Chrion and the other camp directors haven't shown up yet. I think she was going to bring a cop or two back to search the woods.”

Dropping to the floor, Nico put his face in his knees and gripped his hair. This was insane. This wasn't happening. He just needed to wake up. He had to. If this was real... If this was real, none of them would probably make it out alive. There best bet would be to make a run for it through the woods and try to get to civilization.

Everyone fell silent as the jingle of metal chains came from outside. Luke held a finger up to his lips and motioned to his room. The others all moved quickly inside, while Luke and Jason helped Nico to his feet and got the boy inside. Luke locked his door and moved to the other side of the room to grab his baseball bat. Everyone was silent as the door to their cabin opened.

It wasn't breathing that they heard, not really. Kind of like someone struggling to take a breath. Chains clanged ominously in the other room. Under the door, there was a faint green light that moved. Nico's breath hitched when the doorknob jiggled. It wanted in. Did it know they were in here? Luke stood just in front of the door, bat at the ready.

After a few seconds, the doorknob stopped moving. The green light slowly faded away and the door to their cabin slammed shut again. Was it gone? Nobody moved. Luke moved to his window and peered outside discreetly.

“I don't see anything,” he whispered.

“What are we going to do?” Nico finally asked, frozen in terror from where he sat in Jason's arms.

Luke growled as he rubbed a hand down his face. He didn't have an answer, it was clear to Nico. “The others don't know,” Luke said. “Silena is still out in those woods.”

“Unless that thing got to her and Beckendorf,” Leo mumbled. Luke punched the Latino in the arm. Jason clamped a hand over Leo's mouth to prevent him from yelling. Leo grunted and knocked Jason's hand away. “Sorry.”

“I'm going out there,” Luke whispered.

Percy was off the bed in a flash. “The hell you are,” he hissed. “You're not leaving.”

“No, you're not leaving.” Luke picked up his flashlight and a knife. “You all are staying here, locking the door behind me. Don't open it until I come back.”

Percy was shaking with anger, doing his best to stay quiet. “No. You're not going. That thing will kill you.” It was the first time that Nico had actually seen Percy afraid. “If it is that thing from the book, it wants us.”

“Wants all of us,” Frank pointed out. “It wasn't just us that read it. Everyone at camp.”

Jason's head shot up. “At the time it was read.” He slowly got up from the bed, easing Nico down onto it. “I wasn't here. Neither was Annabeth or Reyna. What if we are clear?” He glanced between Percy and Luke. “I could go. I'll grab Reyna and Annabeth, they can inform their cabins, and we can try to get the word out.”

Taking in a shaky breath, Luke nodded. “Yeah, that would probably be the best id-”

They all fell silent as several screams came from outside. They all scurried to the window. Nico was able to get there just as Gwen was ripped behind a cabin. Two other girls scrambled to run away. One was caught in the ankle by the scythe that had just been in Gwen. The girl screamed as she was dragged behind the cabin as well. The other girl made it away, though she was stupid enough to run to the edge of camp.

Luke grabbed Jason by the front of his shirt. “How confident are you that this thing won't kill you as well?” He hissed.

“Not very,” Jason admitted, “but we don't have many options.”

Nico grabbed Jason's arm, glaring. “You can't go out there.”

Looking at Nico, Jason's eyes softened. He put a hand lightly on his boyfriend's shoulder. “Grover is still out there. We need to get the girls. I think we'll all feel better if we were together. Plus, your sisters are still out there.” That silenced Nico's argument. “I'll be careful.”

“I want to come with you,” Nico whispered.

“Hell no,” Percy jumped in. “You're not leaving. Your sisters and father would kill me if I let you get yourself killed.”

Leo grunted as he sat back on the bed. “They may not get the chance if we don't make it out of here.”

Frank was still watching the window. “It looks like some campers are making a break for it. Different ones.” Everyone moved back to the window. “Groups are scattering.”

Jason was already at the door and had it open when Nico looked away from the window. With a look at Nico, the blond shut the door. Percy grabbed Nico by the waist before the boy could go after his boyfriend. Luke locked the door.

Five minutes had passed and Nico was pacing back and forth. Luke looked like he was growing more irritated with each step that Nico took, but he did not say anything. Percy glanced out the window. “Still no sign of him,” the green-eyed boy announced.

He didn't need to be waiting around here. With a deep breath, Nico opened the door. Percy had his wrist before Nico could get outside the cabin. “You can't stop me, Percy. This is our fault.”

“If it's true,” Percy mumbled.

“Yes, if it's true.” Nico shook his head, glancing at Luke who was standing in the doorway of his room. “What if Jason was wrong? What if we just let him go to his death? The girls aren't that far away. He should have been back by now.”

Percy let out a sigh and glanced at Luke. “Luke-” He blinked in surprise when the bat was tossed at him.

“Take that.” He pointed a finger at both of them as he grabbed the doorknob. “If you're not back in half an hour, I will be coming to look for you.”

With a nod, Percy firmly grasped the bat and ushered Nico out of the cabin. The two stopped dead in their tracks.

There were a few campers dead in the courtyard of all the cabins. Some were up against the cabin, one was even cut in half, and one had his intestines dragged out of his body and on the ground. The one thing that they did have in common were their eyes and faces. Their faces were hollow, their eyes gone. Nico crouched down and glanced at one girl's face. From her eyes came a dark green mist.

Percy touched his shoulder. “We need to move,” he whispered.

They silently made their way across the courtyard. Most of their friends were in one cabin, except for Bianca. Her cabin was next door, though, so it wasn't a big deal. “I'm going to,” Nico motioned to the cabin on the left, “get my sister.”

Percy stopped and stared at the cabin. It was dark and no noise came from inside. “Okay,” he said after a moment. “Just... be careful. Yell if you need help. I'll only be a minute.”

Nico nodded and headed towards his older sister's cabin, while Percy went towards the one on the right. Slipping inside, Nico made sure the door didn't make any noise when it closed. He didn't move from the door. The cabin was destroyed. Beds were overturned and blood was all over the floor. Nico had to step over a girl's body to move further into the cabin. His brain was yelling at him to turn around and run. What if that thing was still in here?

But he couldn't.

His sister was still here, Nico told himself, or he hoped that she was. Bianca's door was slightly ajar. He gently pushed it open and shined a light inside. He covered his mouth to muffle a sob. Bianca was there on the bed. He slowly moved closer. Her neck was bruised and was at an odd angle. Broken. Her eyes were hollow.

Sitting down on the bed, Nico took Bianca's hand and leaned on her chest, sobbing. His sister was dead, and it was all their fault. That stupid book! How were they supposed to know something like that was real? Nico curled up next to Bianca. He didn't want to leave her. The thing could come back for all he cared and killed him too.

Several minutes passed and Nico heard movement in the other room. He sat up slightly as a light came through the doorway. “Oh my god,” Percy breathed out. “Nico...”

“I don't want to leave her like this,” Nico cried.

“What happened?” Hazel asked.

Thalia appeared beside Percy and covered her mouth with a gasp. “Fuck,” she hissed. She grabbed Hazel as the girl tried to push inside, instantly covering her eyes. “Don't look, Hazel. Please.”

Hazel still struggled. “Nico?”

Wiping at his face, Nico sat up more. “I'm here, Hazel.” He stared down at Bianca's body. “Listen to Thalia. I don't... It's Bianca.”

“No!” Hazel managed to scream before Thalia could get a hand over her mouth.

“Okay,” Percy said frantically, “we need to move. Now. That thing had to of heard that.” Nico didn't move. Percy stepped into the rooms and grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling him away from his sister. “I'm not letting you get yourself killed, Nico.”

“I can't leave her,” Nico pleaded. “I have to stay with her. Percy, you can't ask-”

Nico's eyes were wide as he looked up at Reyna, who had slapped him. “I'm sorry, Nico, but they are right. We have to go. We can come back for her when it's safe.” She took Nico from Percy and gently guided him out the door. “I promise we'll come back for her.”

The group began making their way outside. But then it hit Nico. Someone was missing, and not just anyone. “Where's Jason?” He asked.

Percy and Reyna shared a look. “He...” Reyna was hesitant to answer. “I told Percy that he never came to our cabin. I haven't seen him since campfire.”

Everything felt like it had shattered. Nico's world was on the verge of collapse. The only thing that kept him from crumbling in on himself was that Hazel took him by the hand. He couldn't shut down, not with Hazel still alive.

Percy squeezed Nico's shoulder. “We'll find him.”

From behind them came the sound of chains rattling. The group all froze. From the shadows came a huge figure with a hood, carrying a chain that dragged a scythe on the ground behind him. His skin was ghostly pale, black bones even showing on parts of his arm. When he looked up, green eyes appeared in the darkness of his hood. On his side, a lantern began to illuminate a eerie green, like he had seen in the woods.

They were all frozen, at least until he pulled the chain and began readying the chain to throw. “Run!” Thalia yelled.

Everyone scattered. Nico kept a death grip on Hazel's arm as he took off running after Percy and Reyna, the latter gripping Nico's other hand. There was as scream behind them. Nico chanced a look, only to find Piper caught dead in her tracks. Blood spurted from her mouth. She looked down to find the scythe implanted in her body.

With one swift tug, the giant man pulled Piper backwards, the girl screaming as she went. Percy and Reyna shoved Hazel and Nico behind a cabin. They all peered around. The thing had taken its lantern off its hook, while Piper crawled across the ground. The Warden, as it seemed to really be, stepped on the chain and stopped the girl's escape. Nico's brow furrowed as he flipped her over. What was it doing?

Reyna clamped a hand over Hazel's mouth as she began to scream. From Piper's eyes and mouth came a green mist. It went into the lantern, until there was nothing left. Only the shell of Piper's body was left behind. The thing put the lantern back on his belt and it went dark again. Then the Warden picked its scythe back up. Percy was already pulling them away.

“Okay,” he quickly whispered to Reyna, “you get Hazel back to our cabin. Luke will be waiting there with Leo and Frank. I need to find Jason. Nico won't come back with me unless we find him.” Both Reyna and Percy look down at Nico. The boy nods. “Right. So, I'll find him and get back to you guys.”

“What about the others?” Asked Nico. He pursed his lips. “Thalia and Annabeth are still out there.”

Reyna pursed her lips. “This is shit.” She glanced over her shoulder. The thing was gone. Taking in a deep breath, Reyna tried to stay calm. “Okay, I'll get Hazel back to the cabin. Find Jason and hurry up. I doubt Jason will come back without Thalia, and I don't want to leave her out here either. After I get Hazel back, I'm going to come back out here and look for her.”

For a moment, Nico wasn't sure if Percy would agree. Then he nodded. Reyna tried to grab Hazel, but the girl shot forward to hug her brother. “Come back. Please don't die,” she whispered in Nico's ear.” Reyna grabbed her and pulled her off. Hazel cast a glance over her shoulder at her brother as Reyna quietly took them towards the boys' cabin.

Clenching his fists, Nico turned to Percy. “I'm not going back without Jason. So, if you want to back out, now is the time.”

Percy smirked at him. “No way. You're stuck with me, buddy.” He motioned in the other direction. “Come on, we shouldn't just stand around here.”

The two took off running. Nico wasn't sure where to look, but it didn't seem like Percy had a clue either. There were screams that happened from time to time. Whenever they were close, Percy yanked Nico to a stop and hid them. The closest they came was when they had to dodge under a canoe. The Warden passed by them, his chain clanging as he went. Nico's eyes were wide as he watched the thing drag a mangled Drew Tanaka behind him. The scythe stuck out of her mouth and the chain wrapped around her neck.

After a minute had passed and they heard another scream in the distance, Percy and Nico shot away to continue their search. They ran all along the water, until they came to a stop. Standing by the edge of the water was a younger girl, her back to them. She wasn't moving, but was quietly singing to herself. Percy motioned for Nico to stay put and edged closer.

“Hey,” Percy whispered. “You shouldn't be out here. It's too danger. Let's get you somewhere safe.”

Nico's stomach fell as the girl turned around. Her entire face had been ripped off. Her outfit was not of this time, like something out of Victorian England. She carried with her a stuffed rabbit held to her chest. “Cling clang go the chains, someone's out to find you,” the girl sang

Percy slowly inched back towards Nico as other kids rose from the water of the lake. Three didn't too far off in their clothing, something out of the sixties. Nico felt dread course through his veins as he had a thought. What if they were the ones that Demeter had talked about? Were these the spirits of those that the Warden had taken? Was that to be their fate? Eternal damnation in this prison?

The girl took a step forward as she continued with the next verse. “Cling clang go the chains.” She raised and pointed a finger at the two of them. No, not at them. Behind them. “The Warden's right behind you,” she sang in her eerie tone.

Sure enough, Nico heard chains rattling. He had just enough time to grab Percy and push him off to the side before the scythe cut through the air where they had been. Nico rolled across the ground and looked up as the Warden was pulling the scythe back to him. Percy yanked hard on Nico's hand and dragged the boy to his feet, the two of them shooting off into the night.

“This is insane,” Percy said as they ran. “What the fuck was that? The chorus of the damned?”

“I don't think now is really the time to make jokes, Percy.”

The two were paying so little to where they were going that they both tripped over a large object on the ground. Nico groaned and rolled onto his back. He had managed to hit his head on the root of a tree and his temple was now throbbing. He winced as he set up, though it was only momentary as he saw what they had stumbled over.

“Jason!”

“Ow,” the blond groaned from the ground. “Did you two have to run over me like that?”

Percy sat up and helped Jason to do the same. “What are you doing, man? That thing is slaughtering everyone.” His brow furrowed. “Bianca is dead. So is Piper.”

“Well I was chasing Grover, and then I lost-” The blond stopped and looked at Nico. “Wait, Bianca is dead?” He reached out for Nico, barely missing him. Something was off. “Are you okay, Nico?”

“I'm fine.” Nico's brow furrowed. “You...” Then it hit him. “Where are your glasses?”

The blond groaned as he was helped to his feet. “I think they broke.” He let out a sigh as he rubbed his neck. “I found Grover, at least briefly. But he was in so much shock that he took off running. I tried to stop him and get him back to the cabin, but he knocked me out of the way. I think he stepped on my glasses in the process.” The blond gave a weak smile at Nico. “Everything is a bit blurry.” The boy then stopped, as if registering something. “You said Piper is dead, too?” Percy gave a nod. “Fuck.” He let out a sigh. “Fucking dammit. What about the others?”

“I think everyone else is back at our cabin,” Percy replied. “Annabeth and Thalia might be unaccounted for, but-”

“Wait, Thalia is missing as well?” Jason grabbed Percy by his shirt. “How did you lose my sister?”

Percy shoved the blond off of him. “It wasn't my fault, bro. That thing attacked us as we were getting the girls. We all scattered when it got Piper. I don't know where they went.”

Growling for a second, Jason punched a tree and then shook his fist, cursing under his breath. “Goddamn fuck. This is so fucking messed up.” He shook his head. “Okay...” He glanced down at his boyfriend. “You need to get back to the cabin.”

“I need to find Grover,” Percy interjected.

Jason gave a nod. “Yeah. I need to find Thalia. After we get Nico back, we can go looking.” He motioned over his shoulder. “Grover ran into the woods, probably trying to make a break for civilization. If he's still alive, he's in there. No telling if we'll find him, though.”

Nico grabbed Jason's hand with a scowl. “You're not going to leave me again.”

Taking in a breath, Jason squeezed Nico's hand. “We'll figure something out.” He motioned for them to move. “I also need to get my contacts from the cabin.”

As they returned back to the cabins, they found the courtyard a little worse than they had left it. More bodies were scattered across the ground. One even hung from a tree. It was Cecil. A look of terror seemed to be on his face, what little was left of it. His jaw was missing, as were his eyes. That last part seemed to be common. Even one of the boy's arms was gone.

Percy's brow furrowed as he moved to get Cecil down. “I wonder if Will and the others are still alive. Cecil was supposed to be with them. If he's dead...”

“We won't know for sure unless we find them,” Jason whispered, helping Percy put Cecil's body on the ground. He licked his lips. “What are the chances any of us can make it out of this?”

Percy chewed on his lip, his eyes diligently scanning the area. “I don't know. Maybe that book can tell us something?” He glanced at Jason. “Do you think you could find something?”

“Maybe,” Jason replied as they headed for their cabin.

Inside, they knocked on the door. Leo opened it. Percy slipped inside, while Nico waited in the doorway. Jason went over to his bag and retrieved his contacts. The door was shut when they were all inside. Percy was standing there, staring at the room in confusion. Nico saw. Not everyone was here. In fact, only Hazel was the new addition. But, on top of that, Reyna and Luke were both missing.

“Where did they go?” Percy demanded, grabbing Leo by his shirt and lifting the boy off of his feet. Nico stared at Percy in shock. He wasn't sure he had ever seen Percy this mad, at least at one of his friends. The only time Nico had ever seen Percy this furious was when that asshole Bryce had made fun of Nico for crying in school after his mother had died. Percy had gotten suspended for two weeks for breaking Bryce's nose and two of his ribs. “What happened to them?”

“They took off.” It was Frank that answered. Percy slowly put Leo down. “They went to look for Thalia and Annabeth. The two of them were insistent.”

“Why wouldn't they be,” Percy whispered, rubbing his mouth. “Fuck. I'm going back out there.” He pointed to Jason. “See if you can find anything. Come find us if you do.”

“Such a solid plan,” Jason mumbled with a roll of his eyes. He pulled the old book out from under Luke's bed. Of course Percy still had the damned thing, Nico thought to himself. Jason sat down on the bed as Percy ran out the door, Leo locking it behind him.

Hazel took Nico's hand. “Are you okay?” She asked softly.

Nico smiled sadly at her. “I should be asking you that.”

Leo was pacing in front of the door. “This is so fucked up.” He looked at Nico. “How many others do you think are alive?”

“I don't know,” Nico honestly replied. “A lot probably ran for the woods. The courtyard and the camp in general is pretty littered with bodies. Grover ran for the woods. We found Cecil dead, which could mean Will, Mitchell, and Lou are dead.”

“We don't know that for sure.” Jason didn't look up at the book, his face bearing a serious expression as he combed through the book. “Aha.” Jason pointed to a page in the book. “So, I think I found us a way out. Literally.” He stood up from the bed. “I mean, it's not much, and it's still danger. But it's something, right?”

“Just spit it out,” Leo hissed. Nico had never seen Leo so shaken or serious.

Jason nodded his apology. “Right. So, we don't know the distance that this marked area went to, but if we can make it beyond that-”

“We'll be fine?” Frank finished. Jason nodded. “You don't know how far, though?”

Jason lightly shook his head. “I'd probably say the entire camp, probably several miles into the woods.” The blond rubbed his temple, supporting the book against his hip as he did so. “There doesn't seem to be a way to kill that thing. And it won't stop until everyone marked is dead.” His eyes locked on Nico. “Your souls are marked. It's come to collect them. It literally rips your soul out.”

“Like some dementor shit?” Leo asked.

“Something like that,” Jason continued. “There's literally nothing else to do. The problem is I'm not sure if that will even be enough.”

Hazel pulled away from Frank and sat on the edge of the bed. “Why not?”

For a moment, Jason chewed on his lip. It was clear to Nico that it was bad news. He knew that look on Jason's face. “Nobody has ever survived an encounter with this thing,” Jason whispered. He took Nico's hand and squeezed it. Leaning in, he whispered in Nico's ear, so only Nico could hear him. “I will make sure you get out of this. No matter the cost.”

Nico could feel his heart breaking. He knew those words. Jason was basically telling him that he would die before he let that thing take Nico. Taking in a deep breath, Nico put a hand over his mouth and walked over to the window. This was too much. This was a nightmare. Why was this happening? It was just a stupid book, it wasn't supposed to be real. Jason didn't need to throw his life away. Jason, Reyna, and Annabeth could all run. They wouldn't, but Nico knew they could.

Leo took the book and threw it on the floor. “Fuck this thing.” He kicked the thing as hard as he could, sending it into the wall. “It fucked up our lives.” He took a breath and put his hands on his hips. “We can't just leave. We need to find the others. As much as I just want to book it, I know that none of you would just leave me behind.”

Jason shared a look with Leo. “Percy won't leave until we find Grover. He'll be the hardest to find.” He lightly shook his head. “If I'm being honest, I am not sure we'll find him. Whether he's alive or not, him doing this is putting us all in danger.” He held up a hand. “We don't leave our friends behind, but Grover was hysterical. And he took off into those woods a good thirty minutes ago.”

“That's kind of shitty,” Frank mumbled.

“Nothing we can do about it,” Jason sighed. “I don't like leaving him, but unless he came back to camp, we won't find him. And we can't just sit here until he comes back.” He picked up his flashlight. “We need to regroup. If Percy found the others, we should probably leave. We'll need Luke to help convince Percy to leave.”

“What if he's still alive out there?” Hazel voiced.

Nico placed a hand on her head and fixed her messed up hair. “Jason's right, we can't just stay here in hopes he comes back. The others should at least be here in the camp still, though.” His eyes shot to Jason. “You're not going out there alone, though.”

It seemed like Jason was about to tell Nico that there was no way in hell that he was letting Nico go back out there, but he didn't. “Moving us all out there is kind of dangerous,” was all he said.

Leo held his hands up. “It's better than just sitting around here!” He shouted. He gave a nod to Jason. “Count me in. That thing is going to have to work for it if he wants Leo Valdez's so-”

Glass shattered and the dreaded chained scythe shot into Luke's room, slicing into Leo's back. The boy's body slumped. Before Jason could grab him, the small Latino was ripped out of the room with a scream. Hazel screamed and the others all shot into action. Nico scrambled for the door as Jason got the flashlight. Frank grabbed Hazel by the hand and they ran for it.

Frank and Hazel ran ahead, but Jason stopped outside the cabin. The thing was butchering Leo, paying them no mind. The boy's blood splattered and shot into the air with each hack from the thing's scythe. Nico tugged on Jason's arm, begging him to move, but the boy was frozen. He was watching his friend be butchered right in front of him.

“Jason,” Nico pleaded, red hot tears streaming down his face. “Please.”

Shaking himself, Jason took a few steps backwards before taking off running with Nico. The raven haired boy yelled as the scythe went flying by his head and tore into the side of the cabin as they turned the corner. Nico skidded to a halt. Panic filled his every being.

“Where is Hazel?” He asked.

Jason looked around. Frank and Hazel were gone. They must have kept running. The blond squeezed Nico's hand. “We'll find them. I promise. You won't lose another sister.” He shoved Nico in the back of the shoulder to get the boy moving. “Just keep an eye out. We can't stop moving, though.”

“We're not leaving without them.”

“We won't, but we can't stay still. We don't have a safe place to hide anymore.”

As they ran through the camp, Nico noted that it was a whole lot quieter now. How many campers were still alive at this point? Maybe people had gotten out safely. He needed to be optimistic right now. When they were making their second round through the camp, the two came to a halt at the sound of a scream.

Juniper ran out of the woods, heading towards the cabins as fast as she can. “Juniper!” Jason called out, motioning to where they were hiding behind some bushes. 

The girl changed directions as fast as she could, but to no avail. The scythe and chain wrapped around her, yanking her to a stop. The Warden stood on the edge of the woods. It gripped the chain in its hand and pulled. Horror filled Nico's eyes as Juniper was flung into a tree with a sickening crack. The girl's body slumped to the ground and Jason grabbed Nico. It was time to run. Green glowed from beneath the Warden's hood. It looked right at Nico. He couldn't see its eyes, but Nico knew it was looking at him.

They bolted around the corner of the Big House and Nico nearly died. Will and Lou were huddled in the shadows of a vending machine. Lou put a finger to her lips. Jason shoved Nico in with the other two before pulling the vending machine to try and hide them.

“What are you two doing here?” Nico hissed.

Will was shaking. “Where are we supposed to go?”

Jason crouched down beside Nico, sitting on his haunches. “Maybe make a run for it.”

Lou shook her head. “We were in the woods. We just got back into camp, and then we saw everyone dead.” She slumped against the wall. “We came here to try and get one of the adults, but nobody is answering.”

“Cecil's dead,” Nico whispered.

Will pursed his lips, staring at the ground. “We know,” the blond whispered. “The thing killed him in front of us. It got Mitchell as well.” The blond wrapped his arms around himself, glancing out from behind the machine. “We found this clearing in the woods. It had been stringing up bodies.”

“Who?”

“Silena, Jake, and Lacy,” Lou replied.

“One looked like Chrion,” Will added.

Jason's brow furrowed as he took Nico's hand. “Beckendorf wasn't with Silena?”

“Not that we saw.” Lou met Jason's eyes with a frown. She had some blood splattered on her face and the sleeve of her shirt was torn. “There were a few more bodies, but they weren't distinguishable.” She tried to move her sleeve up on her shoulder, but it fell right back off. “Anyone else alive?”

Nico and Jason looked at each other. “We saw Frank and Hazel just a little while ago, but we got separated when the thing killed...” Jason let out a sigh, “Leo.” Nico squeezed Jason's hand. “Percy went looking for Luke and Reyna, who are looking for Annabeth and Thalia. And Grover ran into the woods, so we aren't sure about him.”

Will gave a snort, his eyes dull. “I'm willing to bet money that Clarisse is still alive.”

Jason finally stood back up. “We can't stay here,” he announced. He peeked out from behind the machine before pushing it aside. The others stood up and peered out as well. Jason motioned for them to follow. “Come on. I think there's some stuff up in the attic.”

The four of them crept towards the old wooden stairs that led up to the attic. Jason's brow furrowed as he found the door wouldn't open. Pulling back, he shoved his shoulder into it and cracked the door open. Nico's eyes widened as Jason's head was almost taken off by a hatchet.

“What the fuck, Clarisse?” Jason hissed. “We're already being murdered by that thing out there, we don't need you helping.”

“Sorry,” Clarisse mumbled as she pulled the hatchet from the wood and let them inside. “Just being cautious. Come to join my army?”

Nico peered around the room. There was nobody else there. Clarisse shoved a metal pipe into his hand, a bat into Jason's, and a shovel to Lou.” She arched a brow at Will. “Sorry, Solace, that's all I've got.”

The blond shrugged as he went to sit on a box, curling in on himself. Nico frowned as he watched the blond. He was not sure he had ever seen Will not smiling. Would any of them ever smile again, though? If they made it out of here being the first determining factor.

Staring down at the pipe for a second, Nico spoke softly. “Have you seen anyone else? We lost Hazel and Frank not long ago.”

Clarisse finished barricading the door again. “Saw your friends running into the woods before coming up here.” She sat against the desk she was using as defense. “That was about fifteen or thirty minutes ago.”

“Which ones?” Jason asked.

The girl arched a brow at the blond. “Jackson and Reyna.”

Nico's heart threatened to pound out of his chest. Just those two? “What about Luke?”

The girl slowly shook her head. “Not that I saw.” Her brow knit together as she crossed her arms. “Jackson had a lot of blood on his shirt, seemed distressed. They ignored me when I called out to them.”

Jason looked over at Nico, who couldn't move. What if Luke was dead? How many of his friends was he going to lose? Would he even survive? Nico just wanted to wake up.

“We need to get beyond the woods,” Jason said softly. “It's going to sound crazy, but if we put enough distance between us and the camp, it should leave us alone.”

Lou snorted. “Yes, because a weird demon-like man carrying a scythe on a chain and ripping out souls isn't already crazy.” She let out a sigh. “How far?”

“I don't know,” Jason admitted. Clarisse scoffed at that. “I'm sorry. It's complicated. We can talk about it later, if we make it out.” He moved towards the door. “Right now, we need to go find Percy and Reyna, maybe see if they found the others.”

“No.” Clarisse stood up and blocked the door. “We need to get the hell out of here. Unless you want your boyfriend to be next. That thing is trying to kill us, unless you missed that part. I watched my entire cabin get slaughtered. The only reason I lived was because it knocked over the bunk beds and a mattress landed on top of me.” Her eyes softened as she looked over at Nico. “I listened as it murdered Bianca. I'm sorry.”

There were tears threatening to form in Nico's eyes. His vision blurred as he looked at his hands, which were shaking. He just wanted to lose it and scream, but he couldn't. Nico needed to hold it together, at least until they made it out of here. He could do that, right?

“I can't leave without the others,” Nico whispered. “We're going. You guys can stay here or run, but Jason and I are staying to look for our friends.”

Clarisse grunted before moving the desk aside. “Fine, but it's your funeral.” She looked to Lou and Will. “What about you two?”

Glancing at Nico, Will pursed his lips. “I'm sorry. I just want to get away from here.”

Nico gave the blond a nod before they all moved to the door. Clarisse opened it, axe at the ready. They all crept down the stairs. Jason and Clarisse shared a look before they started to go their separate ways. Until they heard the chains.

Just as he looked down, Nico's legs were ripped out from under him. The boy screamed and clawed at the grass as he was pulled towards the Warden. Jason made a dash for him, but came up short. Clarisse shouted and actually tossed her axe at the Warden, catching it in the chest. Lou and Jason moved quickly to pull the chain off Nico as the Warden popped the axe out of his chest.

Clarisse jumped at the pipe that Nico had dropped, which was far from the right move. The axe flew through the air and caught Clarisse right at her wrist. The girl screamed and pulled the axe from her hand. Seeing it so close, Nico wanted to hurl. Her hand dangled at the end of her arm. Clarisse made a small noise of horror as she crawled across the ground, away from the Warden, who was slowly pulling his chain back in.

Will and Nico helped her up, handing her off to Jason for support. Nico spun around as he heard the whirling of the chain. Blood rushed out of his face, sinking down to his toes. He was going to die. The scythe was headed right for them. For him. There was not going to be a future for him and Jason. It was over.

“Nico, move,” was all Lou could get out as she pushed Nico out of the way. The scythe zoomed past them and then ripped back. Lou was caught in the back on its return. “Go!” She screamed at them from the ground.

Nico had to grab Will and make the blond run. Jason helped Clarisse hobble as fast as she could move, which was not all that fast. Nico stopped and watched as the Warden ripped his scythe from Lou's back. Gripping the handle tightly, he cleaved down into the girl's back. Nico shuddered as bones cracked and broke apart. Jason's hand wrapped firmly around Nico's arm. The blond was staring intently at his boyfriend, the message clear. Move.

As they moved, which was not all that fast with Clarisse, they could hear the Warden following them. The chains rattled with each step it took. It was haunting, like it was burned into Nico's mind.

Jason had them go into the Big House again, but this time they went to the medical room. They all scrambled inside and shut the door. A light shined on them from the exam table, followed by a groan in the dark.

“How the fuck are you all alive?” Luke hissed from behind the light.

Nico shot forward and nearly tackled the blond, who hissed in pain. “Sorry,” Nico apologized as he pulled back.

Luke had his shirt off and had ripped it to use to bind around his torso. There was a lot of blood on his right side. He hissed and laid back down on the table. Nico took his light and pulled back the shirt to take a look.

“It might be infected,” Will observed, suddenly at Nico's side. “My dad's a doctor. He needs to get to a hospital.”

“Great observation,” Luke mumbled bitterly.

Jason helped Clarisse sit down. “Do you think you could help Clarisse, Will?” He asked. The other blond slowly nodded, eyeing Clarisse's hand funny. Nico wanted to gag as he noticed the girl's hand was still dangling from her wrist. “Luke, what happened?”

With a grunt, Luke adjusted his position. “Well, we found Percy.” The blond groaned in pain. “Before that, we had seen Thalia and Annabeth. But that thing showed up and we had to split up again. I got fucked up and Reyna brought me here. She did a quick swoop of the area and came back with Percy. Reyna took him to go find the others. They went into the woods.”

“Jason,” Will called hesitantly. “I might need you to help me.” He pursed his hand as he looked through the supplies. “We are going to have to remove the hand the rest of the way.”

“The hell you say,” Clarisse hissed.

Will gulped. “I'm so sorry. I can't reattach it, though. There's no way I could pull that off.” He glanced up at Jason. “But my dad did show me how to amputate. I mean, better than just hacking it off.” He opened another cabinet. “I just need to find... Aha!” He pulled out a medical saw. “I need you to hold her down. Nico, get me a lot of gauze. I'll look for some painkillers.”

It ended up taking all of them. They gave the painkillers to Clarisse and waited for a few minutes. Then Jason and Luke had to hold the girl down, and Nico stuffed some extra gauze into Clarisse's mouth, keeping his hand over it to make sure she didn't spit it out and scream. Even behind the gauze, it sounded painful.

Clarisse did her best to shake both blonds off of her, but they wouldn't budge. She wouldn't calm down, not even when Will warned that it could only make it worse. Nico had to look away after Will started cutting through. He could hear her flesh tearing, the rest of the bone snapping. Nico finally had to move away and vomit into the nearest trashcan.

Sliding against the wall, Nico curled in on himself and buried his face into his arms. His back heaved as he finally broke down. They weren't going to make it out of this, they were just prolonging things. Jason could live. He should leave them, but Nico knew he wouldn't. He would sacrifice himself to save Nico. That alone would kill Nico.

When silence finally filled the rooms, Nico felt warm arms wrap around his body. Jason kissed him on the top of his head and tried to calm the boy down. “Shhh,” he said gently. “You're not going to die, Nico. I swear to you.” He kissed Nico's head again. “I'll protect you.”

Nico finally looked up. Luke was staring at him, but not in a way that made Nico feel stupid for crying. Luke was scared too, Nico could see it. They all were. Will was wrapping Clarisse's wrist in the gauze, the girl silently sobbing with her head turned away. Why was this happening to them? Nobody deserved to go out like this.

It was all their fault. They had brought this upon the camp.

Petting Nico's hair, Jason spoke softly. “Will, do you remember where that clearing was?” He asked. Will nodded. “Can you take us there?” Will shot him an odd look. “I'm just hoping that we'll maybe find Percy and Reyna there.”

“They could be dead if they are there,” Will whispered.

Luke sat back down on the exam table. “Why?”

Will sighed and slouched on his stool. “That thing had strung up a bunch of bodies.” He shook his head. “It was... disturbing.”

“What about Hazel and Frank?” Nico whispered into Jason's shoulder.

“We'll find them,” Jason promised. He sighed and let his head hit the wall. “I just... I need to get you out of here.” He looked up at the others. “We all need to get out of here. We can do one more sweep of the camp, then head into the woods.” There was a pause. “Then we'll leave.”

“No,” Luke growled. “If we don't find them-”

“And then what?” Jason asked, eyes crazed with panic. “We can't stay here until morning. That thing will likely find us.” He shook his head. “And we can't hope to keep searching the woods, it's too big.”

Standing up from where he sat, Will sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “We can't stay here too long. Luke and Clarisse both need a doctor.” He gulped and glanced between both injured parties. “It's likely that both of their wounds will get infected.” His eyes settled on Luke. “You could even die if we can't get the bleeding to stop.”

“You guys could stay here, and I-” Jason began, but cut himself off when he received a glare from Nico. “I mean... Nico and I will go find the others.”

Luke frowned and shook his head. “Not a good idea. Then you'd have to come back for us.”

“He's right,” Clarisse groaned. “We need to move together. Find any survivors and get the hell out of dodge.” She held up her amputated wrist. “Not like Luke or I have a choice, really. Without Grace here we are kind of boned. No offense Solace or di Angelo.”

With a nod, Jason pulled his phone out of his pocket. Nico could see that the blond didn't have any service. With a sigh, Jason nodded. “Okay. It's a little after two. We give it an hour, if we can, otherwise we get out.” Everyone in the room nodded their agreement. “Okay, get ready to move as soon as possible.”

It took them about five minutes to make sure Luke and Clarisse's bandages were secure, but they eventually were able to move. Jason opened the door first and poked his head out, gripping the axe tightly in his hand. Without looking away, he motioned for the others to follow him out. Nico held on tightly to the back of the blond's shirt.

They waited a few seconds before leaving the Big House. It was quiet across the camp. No movement. Nothing. The only other people than them that were still alive were probably in the woods. Either lost, being hunted, or miraculously escaped. Nico highly doubted that many, if any, had achieved the last one.

Will moved up to stand beside Jason. The younger blond was clearly panicking. He didn't like being up towards the front, probably feeling exposed. They didn't talk as they moved. Clarisse, not able to really do anything if they were attacked, held the flashlight. They came to an abrupt stop when a twig broke, Jason immediately grabbing Nico's hand.

Then there was a cough and they all jumped. Clarisse pointed the light at a tree and Will yelped. Beckendorf sat up against the base of the tree, blood dripping from his mouth and he clutched his stomach. His shirt was drenched in blood.

“Beckendorf,” Clarisse whispered in the darkness. “What happened? Where's Silena?”

The muscular young man groaned and opened his eyes to look at them. “She's-”

“Dead,” Will finished. Clarisse whipped her head around to look at the blond. Beckendorf nodded. “I saw her body strung up in that freaky clearing.”

“You saw that?” Beckendorf managed to get out, though it was strained. He groaned and clutched his side. “We were looking for Jake and Lacy. We found them.” The young man shook his head. “That crazy fucker came out of nowhere and got Silena. Got me, too.”

Luke groaned as he leaned forward and offered Beckendorf a hand. The young man just shook his head. “Come on, man,” the blond hissed. “We can't just stand around here.”

“Can't move.” Beckendorf shifted his hand slightly to the side. Nobody said anything. His shirt was torn, so was his stomach. The only reason Beckendorf's guts weren't spilling out was that he was holding them in. “You guys need to get out of here.”

“Some of the others are still out there,” Nico whispered.

Jason nodded. “Percy, Reyna, Thalia, Reyna, and Grover.” He rubbed his mouth. “At least that we know of. There could be more.”

Beckendorf shook his head and looked down. “Shouldn't look for Grover, but you'll find him.” Nico perked up at that. “He's in the clearing with the others.” The hope immediately fell away. “I'm sorry. I tried to make my way back there not long ago, to get Silena's body, but that thing came back with Grover and another camper strung to some chains.” He ground his teeth and tried to sit up a little better. “That's when he caught me in the stomach.”

Nico squeezed Jason's hand. “We'll send help for you.”

Will, who had been crouched down beside Beckendorf, pursed his lips. “He won't make it that long.” His face softened. “I'm sorry. You might have another twenty minutes at most, and we can't move you got get you back to the medical supplies.”

“What if we ran back and got what we needed?” Clarisse offered.

“No,” Beckendorf growled. “Go. Find your friends. Get out of here.” Something moved behind them. “Go. Now.”

Jason pulled Nico as he took off running. The others followed behind them. It wasn't long after they had left Beckendorf that they heard him let out a scream before it was silenced. Will tried to do his best to direct them through the woods as they ran. There was no telling if that thing was following them still. Nico couldn't look back, or he would trip.

From the side, two girls barreled into them. They all tumbled to the ground, rolling through the grass and leaves. Nico groaned as he rolled onto his stomach to push himself up. Luke pointed his light at the girls. “Annabeth!” Luke cried.

“Nice to see you as well,” Reyna groaned, pushing herself up. Nico tackled her to the ground in a hug.

Jason sat up and retrieved his axe. “Are you guys all right?”

“Yes,” Annabeth replied. She glanced at the others. “Are you guys? What happened?”

“Long story,” Luke groaned as he moved to hug his friend. “Where's Percy and Thalia?”

The girls looked at each other. “You guys might want to come with us. We need your help with Percy,” Reyna replied.

As they made their way into the clearing, Nico slowed down. It was hard to look at. The camp was littered with bodies, but there were still plenty that were strung up in the trees. Their bodies were mangled, some of their faces disfigured, and some even missing body parts. As Clarisse pointed the light across the ground, Nico could see that most of the grass was red. Drenched in blood. It trailed along the ground. The fresher bodies still dripped it, while most had pools of it on the ground beneath them.

Percy was sat in front of one particular body. Grover. The green-eyed boy was clutching his head and rocking himself back and forth. Percy and Grover had been friends since they were twelve. In fact, for a time, Nico barely saw Percy because he was always off with Annabeth and Grover. Thalia was sat at his side, rubbing the boy's back and whispering to him.

“Thalia,” Jason breathed out. He dashed forward and slid into the grass, grabbing his sister in a hug. “You're okay.”

Thalia offered a sad smile. “That's one way of putting it.” She nodded at Luke. “Glad they found you. Are you guys okay?” Her brow furrowed at Luke. “You look like shit.” The blond flipped her off. Thalia's gaze trailed over to Clarise, her eyes widening. “Oh shit. What happened?”

Clarisse grunted and held up her arm. “Had a run in with that... thing.”

Nico sat down beside Percy, lightly touching his shoulder. “Percy? We need to go.”

“No,” was all Percy said.

Annabeth shook her head. “He's been like this since we found the clearing. He saw Grover and...” She motioned to Percy. Luke pointed the light at her. It was obvious that she had been crying. “We've been trying to tell him that we can't stay here.”

“That thing hasn't been back here?” Will asked.

Reyna shook her head. “Not for a while. We heard screaming back towards camp. Figured it had gone back to finish off everyone that it could find.” Her eyes darted to Jason. “There is something else. When... When we were running, we briefly saw it.” She motioned to Annabeth. “It was right before we bumped into you. We nearly bumped into it in the dark.”

“Holy shit,” Clarisse hissed.

Lips in a thin line, Annabeth shook her head. “Nothing happened. It... ignored us. Like we weren't even there.” The blonde motioned to Jason. “The book... I think I might have the answer to why. The three of us weren't marked.”

“Whoa,” Clarisse said. “Marked? What are you talking about?”

The others, save for Will and Clarisse, all looked at each other. Well, and Percy. He wasn't moving. His eyes were duller than Nico had ever seen them. “It's... a long story,” Jason offered. He took in a breath. “There was a book that was found.”

“It might have been cursed,” Luke finished.

“This is your fault?” Clarisse growled, taking a step forward.

Annabeth stepped in between them. “It's not anyone's fault. How were they supposed to know it was real?” She shook her head. “Nobody would have seen this coming.” Taking in a breath, Annabeth glanced down at Percy. “We just need to stay together and get out of here.”

Jason nodded his agreement. “We need to get beyond the marked zone.” He rubbed his jaw. “Not sure how far it is, but it has to be beyond the woods.” His eyes darted to Reyna and Annabeth. “The interstate isn't that far. Perhaps that would be far enough?”

“A few miles,” Luke offered.

“What choice do we have?” Reyna replied.

“Wait.” Clarisse clenched her jaw. “Why are we being hunted because of this?”

Nico pursed his lips, still staring at Percy. “It marked the whole camp. We didn't know,” he whispered. They- We thought it would be fun to read from the book.” His shoulders slumped. “It was the night before Jason, Reyna, and Annabeth got here.”

Thalia shot up and glared at her brother. “And you didn't get out of here?” She demanded.

Jason glared back at his sister. “I'm not leaving Nico or any of you behind to die.” He stared at her in disbelief. “We still have to find Frank and Hazel.”

“Fuck,” Thalia cursed, kicking the ground. “This is fucking bullshit. Should have never found that book.” She made to kick Percy, but Luke caught her and glared at her. “Don't fucking touch me.” She shoved the tall blond off of her and took a few steps back.”

“We can't stay here,” Will whispered. He was bouncing on his heels nervously, arms wrapped tightly around himself. “We could try going back to camp. Get a car, try to get out that way?”

“Pretty sure people would have already tried,” Annabeth pointed out.

Luke's brow furrowed, eyes darting off to the side. “Wait...” He snapped his fingers. “There's the medical jeep. It was still there last I checked. The keys would be in Chiron's room.”

Everyone looked at each other. “It would be closer to get back to camp,” Reyna reasoned. “Then getting to the interstate would be easier.” She nodded. “I agree with Luke.” Annabeth nodded as well. Reyna let out a breath. “Then we need to get Percy on his feet and get moving. Maybe we can find Hazel and Frank on the way.”

Hesitantly, Nico got to his feet. He didn't want to leave without Hazel. She was the only sister he had left, and she was possibly still out there. What if he left her to die? He chewed on his bottom lip, while the others tried to get Percy on his feet.

“Fuck off,” Percy finally growled, throwing a punch. His eyes snapped open when he realized he had hit Luke in the face. The blond groaned from the ground. “Shit! I'm sorry, Luke.” Percy crawled over and helped Luke sit up.

Luke let out a sigh and pulled Percy in for a hug before they got to their feet. “Are you good?” He asked, rubbing his cheek. Percy gave a nod. “Good.” Pecking the boy on the lips, Luke pulled away from Percy. “We need to get out of here.”

“Guys...” Will whined, terrified.

They all turned in the direction that the blond was facing. Nico felt his blood run cold as he spotted what Will had been looking at. At the edge of the woods, dragging two more bodies, was the Warden. A cry to run rang out in their group and they all bolted to their right.

The scythe flew by them and caught a tree right beside Nico's face. Jason reached back and took Nico's hand as they ran. Reyna pressed a hand to his back, urging the boy to go faster. Nico's heart was in his throat as he ran. The chains were rattling in his ears. It was like they were right behind him. Were they going to die here?

As they passed a large tree, the chained scythe shot across in front of them. It caught Jason and Percy in the neck and both boys went down, coughing violently. Nico and Reyna scrambled to help Jason up, while Annabeth and Luke got Percy.

“Look out!” Will screamed.

Percy's head shot up as the chained scythe swung down on them from above. His eyes widened as the blade came right towards his chest. Nico screamed, but Jason wouldn't let him move. Then everything stopped. Nico was stunned. So was Percy. He stood there in disbelief as Annabeth fell forward in his arms. Her head hit Percy's shoulder. She had taken the blow for Percy. She had been safe, unmarked. But she had taken the hit for Percy.

The chain tore back up into the tree, taking the scythe and Annabeth with it. “No!” Percy screamed, trying to hold onto Annabeth, but she was ripped away from him.

Blood spilled from above and rained down on Percy. Everything fell silent around them. Percy was frozen in place, still staring above him. His face and clothes were now drenched in Annabeth's blood. There was not a time that Nico could recall ever seeing Percy this shaken. He just stood there, chest heaving violently. Luke and Thalia didn't move either.

Clarisse elbowed Luke hard. “We can mourn later. We've got to get out of here before it comes back for the rest of us,” she hissed.

Luke glanced back up at the trees for a moment before he nodded and shook Percy. “We have to go. I'm sorry.” He clutched Percy's face to make the boy look at him. “I'm so sorry, but we have to go.” Terror filled every inch of Luke's blue eyes as he stared into the devastated sea-green ones of Percy. “We will die if we stay here.”

Thalia took in a deep breath and nodded. “She wouldn't want us to die in vain, Percy,” the girl whispered.

Slowly, Percy nodded his head. He took a few steps before allowing himself to move into a slow jog with the others. Nico felt numb, cold. It wasn't until he looked down that he realized that Jason had his hand. The only reason he was even moving at all was because Jason was holding on to him and his legs were moving automatically to follow.

It took them a while of stumbling through the woods, but they eventually found the camp again. They all burst from the edge of the woods and bolted towards the Big House. Jason and Percy kicked in the door and they all scrambled inside to search for the keys. They all jumped when they heard movement behind them.

Relief flooded through Nico as he spotted Hazel standing there with Frank. He moved forward and pulled her in for a hug. She squeezed him back just as fiercely. They just needed to find those keys and leave now.

“Is this all that's left?” Frank asked.

Reyna gave a small nod. “Not sure if anyone else is out there, but this is all of our group.” Her lips fell. “We lost a few.”

Hazel looked up at Nico. “Everyone else is...?”

All Nico did was nod in reply. It was hard to say out loud. He wasn't sure he would ever be able to admit they were gone forever. There were so many that they lost, he wasn't sure how he was going to sit through all of the funerals. How was he even going to feel normal after this? He jumped when he felt Jason's warm hand on his shoulder.

Thalia dangled the keys in the air victoriously. “Got them.”

Luke gave a nod. “Let's go.”

They crept further into the Big House to try and remain unseen. Nico wouldn't voice it out loud, but he was not sure if that would actually help. As Annabeth and Reyna had pointed out, the thing had completely ignored them. What if it wasn't hunting them by sight or sound?

Luke directed them through the kitchen, to a door that was in the back. It was the closest way to the parking area. Nico pursed his lips as he stepped over two of the cooks that were dead on the floor. He had to wonder just what they were going to find up ahead. If it were so easy to get out of here by car, why didn't it seem like anyone had made it out?

Luke slowly pushed the door opened and poked his head outside. Jason, Thalia, and Percy came out next with their weapons held at the ready. Luke tossed the keys to Reyna, who took off in the direction of the jeep. The lot was just about as bad as Nico had imagined. The rest of the campers were here. There were too many dead that Nico had seen tonight to think that any had actually escaped yet. Teenagers laid up against their cars, blood pooling around their corpses. One that Nico had to step over had been cut in half.

A hand shot into the air, Reyna signaling them over. The group ran towards her. What they found didn't reassure them that well. Reyna pointed to the exit. It had been locked, the gate pulled to and iron chain and lock had been secured on it.

Nico wandered a few feet away while the others tried to see if any of the keys would unlock the gate. His brow furrowed as he looked at all the bodies splayed across the ground and the cars. He spotted Travis thrown into the windshield of a green sports car, while his brother Connor was on the hood of the same car. It looked like Connor had been trying to help his brother off the car, not wanting to admit that Travis was dead. The Warden must have slaughtered Connor while he was distracted.

Covering his mouth, Nico suppressed a yelp when there was a loud clank. He turned to find that Percy had taken the axe to the iron lock that was keeping them in. He frowned. Well, if the Warden didn't know where they were before, it probably did now.

“Nico,” Reyna called out to him.

Perhaps a little too loud, Nico though. “Are you trying to draw its attention?” Nico mumbled under his breath, stuffing his hands in his pockets and slowly making his way towards the others.

Jason bolted towards him, confusing Nico. “Run!” The blond shouted. Nico slowly turned his head as that cursed scythe flew by his head and smashed into a car window. Nico yelped and scrambled towards his boyfriend. “Get down.”

As Jason barreled into Nico, the two fell onto the hood of a car and rolled, barely missing the scythe again as it slammed into the hood. The Warden slowly made his way around the car, as Jason and Nico crawled under it. Its hand grabbed under the car. Nico yelped as that hand with some of its exposed black bones tried to pull him back out. Percy came over and helped Jason tug Nico out, ripping some of Nico's shirt off in the process. Jason clung on tightly for a brief second before the scythe swung down on them from over the car.

“No!” Nico yelled as Jason spun them around to shield his boyfriend from the blow. But it never came. Jason's eyes opened in confusion as he and Nico looked to see what happened. “Oh god.”

Thalia stood there, gritting her teeth. The scythe had caught her in the shoulder. Jason and Percy rapidly worked to pull her off, but the chain was ripped back. Thalia screamed as the two held onto her. There was a sickening sound of the scythe's blade cutting through bone and flesh. There was a lot of blood, so much blood. Percy fell to the ground with Thalia's arm as it sliced off. He screamed and scrambled away from it. Thalia fell to her knees, screaming in pain.

“Come on,” Jason whispered, trying to help his sister up.

They weren't paying attention, but Nico saw. Saw the Warden readying another attack. He tackled Jason to the ground. There was a sickening crack, but Nico didn't open his eyes. He couldn't. He knew what had happened, he didn't need to see.

“Thalia,” Jason breathed. The chain sounded again and this time Nico looked. Thalia's body was ripped backwards over the car. “No!”

Moving forward, Percy helped Nico hold Jason. “She's gone, Jason,” Percy whispered. The blond wasn't listening, doing his best to break free. “We are going to die if we don't get out of here.” He shoved Jason hard in the chest, sending the blond stumbling into a car. There was a dark green light that emanated from the other side of the car that Thalia had been dragged over. “Nico is going to die if you don't help get him out of here.”

Heavy breathing came from Jason as he finally looked Nico in the eye. His expression softened before he turned back to Percy and nodded. “We can grieve later,” the blond whispered, “I know. I just...”

The Warden stood back up, placing its lantern back on its belt. “Fuck,” Percy hissed as the Warden picked his scythe back up and turned to face them. “Go.”

The three of them bolted back towards the others, dodging attacks from the scythe left and right. Nico screamed as it tore off a mirror beside him. Jason helped Nico into the back of the jeep before jumping in himself. 

“Drive!” Percy yelled as he was pulled into the passenger seat and fell into Luke's lap.

Reyna floored it. The jeep crashed through the now open gate, but didn't make it any further. Jason and Frank peered over the back and cursed. Nico looked over as well. “What's happening?” Clarisse yelled back at them.

Nico's eyes trailed from where the scythe had embedded itself into the tail end of their jeep, following it to where the Warden was standing at the gate. His feet were dug into the ground, holding on tightly. How was that thing keeping a moving vehicle in place?

“Um...” Hazel whispered. She slowly curled up into the bed of the jeep.

Will dug around in the floor. He smirked as he pulled out a flare gun. “What about this?”

Clarisse arched a brow at him. “I hit that motherfucker in the chest with an axe, do you really think a bright light of fire is going to do anything?” She deadpanned.

While everyone was distracted, Frank leaped over the back of the jeep with the axe. Hazel screamed at him, but Nico tackled her to the floor. He wasn't losing another sister. “Frank,” Jason growled, “get back in the jeep.”

“No,” Frank replied, defiantly. He gripped the axe tight and held it over his shoulder. “Reyna,” he called out. The girl turned her head from the driver seat. “Floor it once I get this thing off.” She nodded. “Don't wait for me.”

“No!” Hazel cried, tears streaming down her face. Nico wouldn't let go of her, cradling the girl to his chest.

Jason was about to jump out and help, but Frank pointed the axe at the blond with a glare. “Stay there. I've got this.” He looked over his shoulder when the chain on the scythe slacked a bit. “Fuck.” The Warden was slowly making its way towards them.

Hefting the axe above his head, Frank swung it down hard on the back of the jeep. He didn't aim for the scythe or the chain, but the metal of the jeep. Smart. Nico somehow doubted that anything would have cut through that iron. With a final hit, Frank cried out and broke a big enough hole that Reyna was able to floor it and the scythe ripped through the torn metal.

Frank turned around as the Warden stopped behind him. Its hand shot out and squeezed Frank's neck, lifting the boy off the ground. “No!” Hazel screamed, trying her best to get out and help Frank. It took Jason, Nico, and Will to hold her down.

Pulling its free arm back, the Warden thrust his hand deep into Frank's chest. Nico clutched Hazel's face to his chest to keep her from watching. The Warden pulled its hand out and released Frank's lifeless body. It didn't move to follow them, though. It crouched down beside Frank and was in the process of removing the lantern from its belt when Reyna turned the corner.

Nico let himself slouch against the side of the jeep, chest heaving as he clutched Hazel to him. Jason watched him from the other side. He didn't say anything, though, just put his hand on Nico's leg. Nico could imagine why. Comfort. Wanting to make sure Nico was still there. They had made it.

The jeep was so silent as Reyna drove through the woods. Nico caught Percy looking back at them from time to time from where he was splayed across Luke's lap. Nico finally gave the boy a nod and Percy sighed and placed his head on Luke's shoulder, but didn't close his eyes. Nico could relate. He wouldn't close his either. His body felt exhausted, his energy spent, but Nico wasn't willing to shut his eyes. With every blink, he could see the dead bodies of his friends, watch as they were ripped away from him and murdered in front of him. He didn't want to think about what it would be like to actually close his eyes.

Or maybe he had spoken too soon.

From out of nowhere, the scythe and chain slammed down into the hood of the jeep. Reyna swerved and the jeep rolled onto its side, barreling into a tree just off the road. Glass shattered and everyone had gone tumbling to the side.

Nico managed to fall out of the back of the jeep with a groan. He held his hands up, his eyes in panic. Glass had cut his hands, blood dripping down from his palms. Nico breathed slowly and reached inside the jeep to shake Jason.

“Hey,” Nico whispered. He sat up on his knees and peered into the woods. He gulped as he saw the Warden slowly pulling his chain back to him. “Guys,” Nico continued, panic filling his voice, “we need to get out of here.”

There were some groans inside. Percy pulled himself out of the passenger window with a wince. He fell over the side of the jeep and hit the ground, a shard of glass sticking out if his shoulder. With a groan, Luke managed to push the door open and helped Reyna crawl out. He stumbled out with her help. His shirt was soaked even more in blood, probably soaked through his bindings.

Jason crawled out with Hazel as the scythe slammed into the back left tire. Hazel let out a cry as she was pushed away by the blond, who turned around to help Will get Clarisse out. Luke barely managed to yank Percy by the shirt and pull him out of the way as the Warden came crashing into the side of the jeep, putting a heavy dent in it. Nico scrambled across the grass to grab both Hazel and Jason. The blond put both of them behind his back.

“Any plan here?” Percy called over to them.

Jason grunted, “Still working on that one.”

As the Warden stood back up straight and readied his chained scythe, Nico prayed for salvation. Anything would do. It just couldn't end like this. He could practically hear cars passing by on the interstate, they had to be close to the road. Nico shut his eyes as the Warden began to wind his chain up to throw.

A car horn pierced the air and Nico's eyes shot open. Headlights flashed in front of them and the Warden stopped to turn around. The car slammed into the thing, smashing the Warden between the car and the jeep. The others had all jumped out of the way to avoid the collision and were recovering from their falls when the driver door opened on the car.

“Are you all okay?” Came Demeter's voice. Nico had never been so relieved in his life to hear her. “Everyone get in!”

They didn't have to be told twice. It was a tight fit, but they all squeezed in. Reyna sat in the front with Hazel, while the others all got in each other's personal space. Nico was on Jason's lap, while Percy's shoulders were pushed against his side. The green-eyed boy sat, jammed, across Luke's lap and even some of Jason. Clarisse sat on the other side of Luke, with Will on the floorboard with his feet pulled tightly to his chest. Demeter backed up, one of her headlights out. Nico leaned forward. He was gone. The Warden wasn't there.

He tapped furiously on Demeter's seat. “Go. Please drive. Before it comes back, drive.”

The car spun around in the dirt road and headed in the direction it came. There was a pounding in Nico's chest as he stared out the window behind them. Nothing moved. Were they finally safe? Jason rubbed his back and squeezed Nico tightly to his chest.

As they were just about at the exit onto the interstate, five cop cars came shooting into the woods ahead of them. They all skidded to a halt, as did Demeter. The kids and Demeter all scrambled out of the car as the police shined lights on them.

They all began shouting and pointing, save for Demeter. Nico wasn't sure what the woman thought had happened, but she stayed quiet. “You can't go in there,” Percy quickly said.

“That thing murdered everyone!” Clarisse shouted, her eyes wild. Everyone had the same look in their eyes. Did Nico? He wasn't sure. “It's fucking insane!”

“Please,” Hazel sobbed, “I just want to go home.”

Some of the cops put their hands on their guns, while others ushered the kids over to the cars. Nico, reluctantly, was separated from Jason. It did take three cops to separate them, though, as Nico refused to let go of the blond. He was finally sat down in the backseat of one of the cop cars, his knees poking out of the door. The police officer's expression softened as she looked at him shaking.

“Can you tell me what happened?” She asked gently.

“I don't...” Nico's brow furrowed as he stared off into the grass. What could they tell these people? They would sound insane. “Everyone's dead. That thing... He killed them and sucked out their souls.”

The officer tipped back the front of her hat with the back of her pen. She stared at Nico in confusion, which was to be expected. “Did you take anything tonight?” She asked. Nico shook his head furiously. “Are you sure you saw what you saw? Maybe you-”

“I saw that thing murder everyone!” Nico yelled, drawing the attention of several cops and his friends. “It slaughtered them.” Nico's eyes were near crazed as he rocked back and forth in the seat. “He... took them into the woods and strung up their corpses. W-We're the only ones that made it out.” He looked up at her in fear. “Please. You can't go back there. Don't take me back there.”

Staring at him for a long moment, the officer nodded her head before putting her notepad on the roof of the car and walking over to one of the other officers. Nico gulped and stared down at his hands as they talked. He was shaking. Blood covered his hands, which were still cut from the glass. Was it even his blood? Nico wasn't sure.

The officers all gathered together with Demeter and talked. Jason came over to Nico and pulled the boy into his arms, kissing him on the side of the head. Nico was still shaking. He couldn't stop, no matter how tightly Jason held him.

The female officer that had talked to Nico came back over, while half of the cops took two cars and drove deeper into the woods. Nico's brow furrowed, his head spinning. “Where are they going?” He desperately asked. “They can't go in there.”

“Calm down,” the officer said softly. “They are just going to have a look around.”

An ambulance showed up while they waited for the cops to return. They loaded Clarisse and Luke up and put them in the ambulance. Percy crawled in beside the blond, holding his hand, while one of the paramedics looked at the green-eyed boy's fresh wound. Percy looked at Nico and waved as they shut the door. Nico took in a deep breath as he watched the ambulance leave the way it came.

Reyna, Hazel and Will had come over to sit beside the car that Nico was seated in. Jason had swapped places with Nico and cradled the boy in his lap now. It was too quiet. Nico jerked at even the slightest noise. No chains, though. Tears had been threatening to form in his eyes ever since the ambulance had arrived, but they wouldn't spill out.

After another fifteen minutes, Nico curled up in Jason's lap and buried his face in the blond's neck. He felt Reyna take his hand and squeeze it. Nico was afraid still. What if the officers didn't come back? What if the Warden came and slaughtered them all right here?

The officer that had been talking to Nico came back over and crouched down in front of them. “They're still looking,” she announced softly. “They're finding bodies, but no sign of this psychopath.” Nico wanted to correct her, it wasn't a psychopath, it was a fucking supernatural being, but he didn't. “Can any of you describe this guy for me?”

There was a long pause before Reyna finally shook her head. “No, officer,” she replied weakly. “He had a hood on. He was very tall and had a scythe on a chain. All we can tell you.”

The cop nodded and stood back up. “The sun will be up soon. We'll take you all to get some breakfast, if any of you are hungry, before we take you home.” She let out a heavy breath. “I'm sorry about your friends. I'm sure this is traumatizing.” She opened up the front passenger door and retrieved some cards from the glove compartment. “Here's some cards for each of you.” Handing them out, she nodded. “Trauma counseling. I figure it would do you all some good.”

Jason gave a nod, offering a weak smile as he adjusted Nico in his lap. “Thank you,” he whispered.

With another ten minutes passing, the officers that had gone into the camp returned with some heavy expressions. Nico saw one of them shake his head. “They didn't find him,” he whispered.

Will's brow furrowed as he looked up at them. “How is that possible?”

“Gone,” was all Jason said.

Reyna sighed and wrapped her arms around her knees. “I think he went back to his prison.”

Will opened his mouth, probably going to ask what they were talking about, but shook his head. “I don't even want to know. It's over. All I care about.”

Nico frowned at Hazel, who had yet to say anything. He squeezed her shoulder. She didn't look at him. The boy sighed and pet Hazel's hair softly. “Maybe we reached the edge of the marked area,” Nico finally said.

Jason gave a nod. “Probably.” He nudged Nico as their officer came back over to them. “What did they say?”

The woman rubbed her jaw, deep in thought. “They searched the woods, found the clearing you guys spoke about. It was... something from the photos they took.” She shuddered and shook her head. “I can't imagine what you all must be going through. Sadly, they never found the murderer.” She motioned to Demeter. “Your...”

“She's my step-grandmother,” Nico mumbled.

The officer nodded. “She's going to take you all home.” She took her hat off. “Try to get some rest, maybe some food. We'll be dropping in tomorrow to get an official statement once you've all calmed down.”

Jason helped Nico up. Demeter came over and helped Reyna get Hazel up. They all climbed into the woman's car before she slowly drove away. Nico stared out the window, watching the trees pass by before they hit the interstate. He felt odd, like he wasn't fully there. Things didn't feel right. He didn't feel right.

\---------------------------------

“Nico?”

The brown-eyed boy took in a deep breath and looked away from the window he had been staring out, arms wrapped tightly around himself. “I'm sorry, what?”

The middle-aged woman put her notepad in her lap and removed her glasses. “I asked how you were sleeping? Are you eating?” She pursed her lips. “It's been three weeks. You were... quite crazed when you first came to me.”

“I saw my friends die,” Nico replied, barely above a whisper. She still heard him, nodding and scribbling something down. “I'm eating a little. Not sleeping much.” He swallowed a lump in his throat. “I sleep better with Jason. We've been swapping houses to sleep at. I'm just... not sure what to do when the fall starts.”

She wrote something down quick before handing Nico a prescription. “Get this filled when you leave, it'll help calm your nerves to get proper rest.” She leaned back in her chair and stared at Nico. “You went through quite a traumatic event, Nico, but you've barely told me what really happened.”

“I told you-”

“You told me that this supernatural being came from another plane of existence and murdered your friends, sucking out their souls.” The woman sighed and looked at Nico with pity. “Nico, you need to accept that it was a human being that did this. A lunatic came into your camp and murdered your friends in the middle of the night. There was nothing you could do, but you are safe now. He can't hurt you now.”

Letting out a breath slowly, Nico nodded. Just tell her what she wanted to hear, he thought to himself. “Yeah.” He sat down in the chair opposite her. “Dad's been staying home, taking off work. Even lets Jason stay over and sleep in my bed. Not that we do anything. I can't... I just don't want to do anything like that right now, you know?” The woman gave a nod. “The funerals were hard. A lot. Bianca's was the hardest for me. Hazel hasn't said a word since we put Frank in the ground.”

“And the rest of your friends?”

“I mean, you're seeing most of them,” Nico pointed out. His eyes dulled as he looked down at his hands. The cuts had healed up and they were clean, but every now and then, Nico would see a flash of them with bloods and cuts. “Jason's been having a hard time with the loss of Thalia. He doesn't want to talk to me about it, though. He's trying to stay strong when we're around each other. There was a bad night, a week ago, where I woke up to him screaming and crying. I wasn't... I wasn't sure how to comfort him really. I just started crying, too.”

“That's understandable, Nico,” the therapist whispered.

“Clarisse is doing better. I'm going to see her and the others later today.” Nico brushed his hair out of his eyes. “Luke's healing as well. Luke and Percy haven't really talked since that night. I think Percy's been avoiding him, but he'll be there today. They both will. I think... Annabeth's sacrifice might have gotten to him a lot.” He sighed. “Reyna's basically mother hen. I can tell she's suffering as well, but she still makes it out to visit each of us every day. Will...” Nico pursed his lips. “I don't know. He's Clarisse. He doesn't really want to talk to any of us. I don't think either of them will meet us today.”

When he was finally dismissed, Nico left her office and found a blond head of hair waiting for him in the lobby. Jason looked up from his phone and smiled weakly. His eyes weren't the same, they hadn't been since that night it all happened. But, then again, neither were Nico's.

“Hey,” Jason said softly, standing up and taking Nico's hand. “How did it go?”

Nodding, Nico followed Jason out the door. “Good. I have another appointment next week. Same time.” He squeezed Jason's hand, needing the reassurance. “The others are meeting us?”

“Yeah,” was all Jason said.

The two drove out of the city and down the interstate. Nico sank a little into his seat as he watched them turn down a familiar dirt road. He wasn't sure why Percy and Jason had agreed that they needed to come back here, but here they were. Jason pulled into the parking lot, where Percy and Reyna's cars were already parked.

Percy sat on the hood of his car, Luke beside him. Reyna had brought Hazel with her, though the younger girl had yet to get out of the passenger seat. Jason parked his car and got out, Nico a little slower. He joined the others and just stared at the camp for a moment.

The police had cleared the area of all the bodies and cleaned it up. Demeter said that the camp would be shut down, probably for good. It was sad, but Nico had no desire to return. Everything just seemed... like a dream staring at it now. He could see the cabins, doors ripped out and windows smashed in.

“Clarisse and Will aren't coming?” Jason finally asked.

Percy slowly shook his head and slid off the hood of his car. “No. Clarisse gave me a lot of colorful words, and I couldn't even get a hold of Will.” The green-eyed boy frowned and rubbed his neck. “Maybe it's for the best. It wasn't their fault.” His eyes dulled as he looked out at the campground. “It wasn't any of their fault, yet their dead.”

“Why are we out here?” Luke grunted.

“Right,” Jason breathed. He glanced at Reyna and Percy. “We... That is... Reyna, Percy, and I talked it over...”

Reyna put a hand on Jason's shoulder. “We talked it over, and we decided we needed to come back here. But...” She looked at Nico and Hazel. “Jason and I can do this alone, if any of you want to stay here.”

“Do what?” Hazel asked softly. It hurt Nico, like a knife to the heart, to hear her finally speak.

Percy gave a nod to Jason and Reyna. “We decided that we needed to come back, finish what we started.” From his pocket, the boy pulled out a lighter. “We are going to destroy that book, so that nobody can ever find it again.”

“Well fuck it,” Luke said, shoving off the car, “count me in.”

The others looked to Nico and Hazel, who were remaining quiet. Nico took his sister's hand. “You don't have to go, Hazel,” he whispered to her. “We can stay here, if you want. You don't need to go see that again.”

“No.” Hazel took in a deep breath. “I need to do this. For Frank. For our friends.” Her brow furrowed. “Percy's right, this was our fault. Reyna and Jason should have to go clean up our mess.”

So it was decided. Jason held hands with both Jason and Hazel as they walked. It was so quiet. The silence was deafening. Last time he had been here with this silence, it was because everyone was dead. He walked through the grass, past where Lou had died. Her body was gone, the blood washed away, but Nico still knew the exact spot she had died.

His eyes lingered on Bianca's cabin. He knew her body was gone, Nico had buried her several days after it happened. It was just that... He couldn't get the image out of his head. Things felt exposed out here, like the Warden would come out of one of the cabins at any second and hack them all to bits before dragging their souls back to his prison.

Brown eyes drifted up to the tree in the center of the courtyard. Cecil's body had been there. Everyone's life just cut so short. Hours before it had all happened, even a day, they had been having fun and enjoying their lives. Nico chewed on his lip as he ripped his attention from the tree. He could even see the marks from where the chain had been on the branches.

As they approached their cabin, Jason stopped outside the window to Luke's room. The glass was still broken. The blond crouched down and ran his hand across the grass. Leo. All their friends, their family, they were gone. They'd never see them again. Even if nobody else wanted to believe them, they knew the truth. Percy took in a breath and opened the door to the cabin.

Following in behind the others, Nico had to stop in the doorway. It just didn't feel real to look at the room. Their things had all been returned to them by the police, save for the sheets and pillows. Nico couldn't take his eyes off his bed. Everything had just been so normal, and then it wasn't. He couldn't look at things the same. Nico wasn't sure how he was going to return to school next month.

Percy returned from the room that had belonged to Luke. Everyone stared down at the book in the boy's hands, unmoving. Did they dare even touch it? What if that thing sensed their presence and came back to collect Nico, Percy, Luke, and Hazel? They were still marked, right? Or were they? There was no way of knowing for sure. The answer might have been in the book, but Nico didn't want to risk opening it again.

They took the book back outside, and Nico was finally able to breathe again. Percy took it all the way over to the campfire and dropped it on top of all the sticks. They found the gasoline and poured it all on top of the pyre. Jason wrapped his arms around Nico's waist and put his chin on Nico's shoulder as Percy took his lighter and set fire to the wood.

A weight felt like it was lifted off Nico's chest as he watched the pages go up in flames. He rubbed at his nose and did his best not to cry. He wasn't sure if he even could anymore, not with how much he had done the past few weeks. Between crying, nervous breakdowns, panic attacks, and nightmares, Nico just didn't feel like himself anymore. It didn't feel real, like he was living a dream. Maybe it was. If that were true, he never wanted to wake up. The alternative was not something he wanted to think about.

Taking in a deep breath, Jason said, “I'm not going to California.”

“What?” Nico turned in the blond's arms. “Why not? You have college. The scholarship. You-”

“I can't... go.” His eyes looked at the others. “I'm going to take a year off, I think.” He slowly nodded. “Reyna and I talked it over. We both want a year off. We'll go to California next year. Just, right now, I don't think either of us can manage school and recovering from this. I already called the university, talked to my adviser, they both assured me that the scholarship and everything would be waiting for me next year.” Jason sighed and licked his chapped lips. “They understood with what happened.”

“But...” Nico fell silent and looked down. Was this because of him? He didn't want Jason to leave, more than ever now, but he also didn't want to be the reason that his boyfriend stayed behind.

“It's not you.” Jason cupped Nico's cheeks in his hands and made the boy look up at him. “Well, it is... kind of. I'm worried about you. But I'm also worried about myself.”

Reyna nodded her agreement. “I couldn't focus right now. School can wait.” She glanced at the others. “What about you guys? Luke?”

The blond swiped his thumb across his nose, briefly glancing at Percy. “I'm not going full time, but...” He crossed his arms. “I think I'm going to take a few course. My adviser understood as well.”

“I'm sorry,” Percy whispered. He didn't look at Luke, but everyone knew he was talking to the blond. “We haven't really been talking. That was my fault.” He licked his lips and kept his eyes on the fire. “I think I'm going to work for a little bit. Maybe for a semester, see how I feel in the spring. I don't know. And us...” He motioned to himself and Luke. “I'm sorry for avoiding you. I just needed time to think. She... Annabeth... She saved me, sacrificed herself. I just-”

“I know,” Luke whispered. He put a hand on Percy's shoulder and the younger boy turned to wrap himself in Luke's embrace, hugging the older boy back fiercely. “We'll get through it. I'm not going anywhere.”

Nico and Hazel looked at each other. It was painful to look at his sister now, and he knew it was the same for her. Perhaps some part of her blamed Nico for him stopping her from saving Frank, or maybe that Nico still had Jason and she didn't have Frank. They'd be okay, in time, but Nico was letting her have her space.

“Well,” Hazel said softly, “we still have high school. Another two years for me.” Her eyes fell with a sigh. “My friends have been calling a lot, and I've been over to see Frank's family almost every single day. They're taking it hard.”

Nico gave a nod. “I don't know. I really don't want to go back, not yet anyways.” He pursed his lips and thought for a moment before continuing. “It won't be the same. You guys are leaving, and the rest...” He sighed. “It'll just be me and Hazel that will really understand each other at school. I'm sure Will is going to avoid me.”

Jason squeezed his hand with a sad smile. “You can come to California with me next fall.” His eyes snapped over to Hazel. “If that's okay with you. I don't-”

“It's okay,” Hazel said, though her voiced sounded a little choked. This wasn't easy for any of them.

This tragedy couldn't have happened at a worse time. People were ripped from them, and those that were left were shaken in the aftermath. Their lives were destroyed. Nico nodded in Jason's arms and the blond kissed his forehead. He did want to be with Jason. Always. His family was trying to be supportive as possible, but they didn't understand, not even Demeter. Jason was the only one that was able to calm Nico down when he had a panic attack. He was thankful that the blond was staying a year. He just couldn't let his grades slip too much, so that he could go to California. Hell, even if they did, Nico would find another way. He wasn't going to be apart from his boyfriend.

After they were satisfied the book was burned beyond any shred of repair, they all headed back to their cars. The group agreed to meet at least once a week to make sure that they were all okay. They'd continue trying to get Clarisse and Will to join them, but Nico wasn't so sure that was going to go the way they wanted it to.

Later that night, Nico sat on his bed, while Jason was down the hall in the bathroom. The blond was staying over with him for the second night in a row. It was so different now. Before, Hades would have never been okay with Jason sleeping over, but now he was grateful to have the blond over. And Jason's parents didn't mind. They didn't say it, but Nico had to wonder if it was because both sets of parents were still mourning their daughter. Jason comforting Nico, not being at his own house, allowed the adults to deal with their own problems.

The blond returned to the room and pecked Nico on the lips, though the boy didn't look away from the show he was watching. As Jason turned the light off, Nico stiffened. Jason winced and turned it back on before walking over to turn on the LED water lamp that Percy had bought Nico a few years back. Nico's shoulders relaxed and Jason was finally able to turn the light off. It just helped. Nico didn't like the dark, not without some source of light.

Jason crawled under the covers and pulled Nico a little closer to himself, the younger boy still trying to absorb himself in his show. “I love you,” Jason whispered.

Brow furrowing, Nico finally looked away from the TV and slid down into the bed with Jason. He rolled over and let his cheek rest on the blond's bare torso. “I know. I love you, too.” He let his finger trail across each of Jason's ribs. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Staying. I mean, I know it's not just because of me, but... thank you.”

Jason smiled down at Nico, his hands softly rubbing at Nico's back. He turned off the TV and gave Nico another chaste kiss. That was pretty much how they kissed now. Part of Nico missed the deep, passionate kisses that Jason often gave him, but he also appreciated Jason not trying to do anything with him just yet. They both needed time to heal.

“Did you take your medicine?” Jason asked gently.

Nico gave a small nod. “Tomorrow, can we go out to the cemetery? I just-”

“Of course.” Jason's eyes were closed when Nico looked up at him. “We can go anytime you want.”

What Jason didn't comment on was that they had been out to the cemetery at least five times in the past two weeks. Nico appreciated that it was left unsaid. It wasn't like either of them minded. They both had sisters and friends buried there now.

As usual, Jason slipped off to sleep long before Nico. It was normal that Nico would lay there and listen to Jason breathe and watch his face while he slept. Even with the medicine, this was the only way that Nico could usually get to sleep now.

He was not sure how long he slept for, but Nico's eyes snapped open in the middle of the night. His dark eyes focused on the changing lights of his lap, watching as the water moved within. Groaning, Nico sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. Jason was still fast asleep. Nico smiled softly at the blond and gently ran his fingers through his boyfriend's hair.

Getting out of bed, Nico stretched. He scratched the back of his head as he made his way out of his room and went to the bathroom. The house was quiet. It was probably very late, his parents probably asleep. Nico shut the bathroom door behind him and turned on the light.

After using the bathroom, Nico washed his hands. His brow furrowed when the floor creaked outside the bathroom door. As he stared into the mirror, the lights flickered and the room went dark. In that brief moment, the mirror cracked and Nico's body went cold. Standing behind him, chain and scythe in hand, was the Warden. A dark green light filled the room as the lantern flickered to life. In utter fear, Nico spun around to face his death.

He was petrified, but nothing was there. The lights were fine, the mirror was undamaged. He was alone. Turning back around, Nico rested his elbows on the sink and buried his face in his hands, trying to breathe. That had probably been the worst he had experienced since it happened. It just felt so real. He had felt that thing's presence behind him, felt the chill of that scythe's blade on his neck.

Splashing some water in his face, Nico stared back into the mirror. He was still alone. Breathing slowly, Nico opened the bathroom door, but looked both ways down the hall before he turned off the bathroom light and scurried back to his room, shutting the door and locking it behind himself.

Nico looked under his bed, opened up his closet, wanting to make sure nothing else was in the room. When everything was clear, Nico sat down on the edge of the bed with a heavy sigh. It was just in his head, Nico reminded himself. It was the trauma.

Sliding back under the covers, Nico looked at Jason. The blond's breathing was still shallow, still deep asleep. He wanted to wake Jason to have the blond comfort him, but Nico didn't want to ruin what sleep the blond got. Nico curled up beside Jason and the blond's arms instinctively wrapped around Nico. Even in sleep, Jason knew when Nico needed to be held.

He waited and waited to drift back to sleep. His nerves, though, were still gone. Nico shut his eyes and willed himself to relax. And he was almost there, until Nico heard a single jingle of a chain outside his door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think it's quite as graphic as my last one. More psychological in the end. It could be, I don't know. I look at my work very differently most of the time than you guys do. Like I could think something is crap and you guys really like it. So I gave up trying to judge my own work a long time ago. But I did leave the ending open. I felt it good to let you the readers interpret how it concludes. Is it all in Nico's head, or did the thing come back for him? Either way, you don't really have a happy ending. One way Nico is going to die probably, and the other he is severely traumatized and won't recover for a long time.
> 
> Personally, my ending is that part of that thing is now permanently embedded in Nico's head. Funny enough, I had this idea two years ago, and then I watched Stranger Things and remembered the ending idea I had. So, you can choose to think that thing came to kill Nico, though I doubt many of you will. It's really up to you. Just out of those two choices, though. No getting better super easy and everything is all rainbows and sunshine. That's not how trauma works. The reason I like this ending better is because it means that Nico has to live with these hallucinations, like he's hearing chains actually rattle, for years to come. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that he has to be committed for a short time.
> 
> Anyways, I'm going to get back to writing my next chapter for House of the Wicked before I go to bed. I hope everyone has a great Halloween, and I hope that you enjoyed this fic.


End file.
